Rose 10: A New Beginning
by hellzome25
Summary: "Well, I never expected to be thrown into my favorite show as a kid." Cody Rosewater found himself transformed into a little girl with the Omnitrix strapped to her wrist in the pod she woke up in. With the help of the Tennysons, Cody, now Louise, must survive with everything out to get her./ OCXGwenX?
1. chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10, or any of the things I will reference in this entire story. The only things I own in this thing is my OC and whatever I decide to make happen.

You know, waking up to an explosion isn't how I really wanted to start my day, the greenish alien woman hurrying me into a pod really wasn't helping matters much either. Everything was a blur as she typed a few things into the console and slammed her hand down onto a button, everything going dark as the hatch to the pod shut and I suddenly felt like I was flying through space.

I should probably start from the beginning, right?

Hello, my name is Cody Rosewater, a 22 year old head chef of a simple corner Café that my uncle owns.

Yesterday was overall a pretty standard day for me, except for the big vacuum of a portal coming out of my TV as I tried to rewatch Ben 10 for the first time in a while. I'm pretty sure that would ruin anyone's day…. The whole trip through the portal was painful, like my body was melting down and crushed, only for it to end with me blacking out at the other end of the portal.

I just sorta faded in and out of consciousness for the next couple hours, a few voices seeming to whisper to each other about me. I did happen to catch a few words though, 'Omnitrix' and 'no time' being the ones repeated over and over. After that, I guess my body just gave out….

And here I am… strapped down into an alien escape pod that could be going anywhere. Sighing a little, I finally had a chance to think about what all happened.

"Hmmm…." I hummed as I looked around, stopping at the sight of my right wrist. "Ohhhh, nooo….." I groaned, almost about to scream at the sudden realization of two things.

1: I have the Omnitrix strapped to my arm. 2:My voice isn't normally that high…

Slowly, I hesitantly reached a hand down and…..

Meanwhile, in the Rust Bucket.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" A scream was faintly heard through the windows of the RV.

"Did you hear that?" Gwen asked from her seat, not sure if what she heard was real.

"I didn't hear anything over the sound of your cooties." Ben mocked, smiling at what he said.

"Oh, shut it dweeb, I was asking grandpa." Gwen glared at her cousin and turned towards Max, the plumber finishing parking the rust bucket into the campground.

"I didn't hear anything, Gwen." Max shrugged, getting out of the driver's seat. "How about you two go out and get some fresh air? I'll get dinner started." He suggested with a smile.

Back with me…

"Okay, okay… Calm down, man. Ugh…" I nervously said to myself, taking deep breaths and looking staring at my hands. "You are now a… I wanna say an 11 year old girl with one of my most favourite pieces of fictional alien tech of all time, you got this." I shook my head and giggled a little, the sound coming off a little creepy in the escape pod.

My old clothes were gone, replaced by this strange white dress thing that was super soft to the touch. Even my hair changed, it is now a bright snowy white and very long, almost reaching down to my knees. I didn't even have any underwear or any shoes……. This is gonna be awkward for later.

"If I remember right….. Ben should be coming once this thing-" I was interrupted by the pod abruptly and violently slamming into the earth, the back of my head hitting the metal siding of the pod hard enough to almost knock me out. "I don't wanna go to school, mom…." I slurred out, seeing stars in my vision and feeling a warm liquid leaking out the back of my head.

"Looks like a satellite or somethin'…." A familiar voice was heard just outside the pod, the sound of rocks falling following shortly after with a scream.

The pod opened up and let me have a first look at the kid before me as I slowly fumbled with the straps keeping me in the seat. He was… shorter than I expected, but I knew instantly that it was the hero I've seen so many times on my TV when I was a kid.

"A girl?" He asked aloud, slowly climbing into it and helping me with the straps. "What were you doing in outer space?"

I suppose I was still delirious from my concussion, because the response I came up with was pretty stupid. "I was trying to find my moon monkey…. His name is Jangles…" I slurred and almost fell down once I was released from the straps, giving Ben a good look at my bleeding head.

"Ouch, that looks like it hurts…" Ben carefully held my arm and slowly led me up the crater the pod made. "Come on, I think grandpa can help you."

"Ouchies…." I deliriously told him, smiling stupidly as I followed him through the woods. It took a few minutes, but we both arrived at the camp. Gwen gave Ben a mean look at the sight of me being practically dragged by him and my bloody feet, rocks and sticks had torn up my bare feet along the way to the camp.

"Ben, what did you do?" She slowly asked, eyeing my head with a frown, the blood standing out brightly against the bright hair. "Did you hurt her, you doofus?!" She quickly grabbed me and led me away from him, ignoring just about everything he said in his defence.

"Grandpa!" Gwen yelled, getting Max's attention from starting the campfire. "I need your help!"

He quickly came over and looked at my bleeding head, frowning and taking me from Gwen, leading me into the rust bucket and gently making me sit down at the table inside. Pulling out a first aid kid from somewhere, Max started to tend to my head wound.

"Where did you come from, little lady?" Max calmly asked, dumping a little peroxide onto my head, making me hiss a little in pain. "Just call me grandpa, just about everyone else does." He told me with a smile.

Thinking clearly-ish for a moment, I slowly pointed up, making sure he saw the Omnitrix. "Er… Space." I simply told him, giving him my most innocent expression. "The ship was exploding and this green lady helped me get out. I did hear something about…. Plumbers? Some guy named Max?" I closed my eyes in fake thought. "Something about 'there is no time' and 'Omnitrix' was said a lot. I don't remember much else…."

Max blinked, suddenly stopping what he was doing for a few moments, before continuing to wrap some bandages around my head and feet. "Hmm… Do you have any family?" He asked after a moment of silence. "Maybe someone who can take care of you?"

"Uhmm…. " I slowly said, deciding to be semi-honest with my third favorite grandpa. "I don't think I will ever see them again…." I closed my eyes, the realization of everything finally hitting hard and causing tears to run down my face.

"Oh, er… There, there?" Max awkwardly rubbed my back, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. "I suppose you can come with my grandkids and I on our trip. Ben and Gwen could really use some company around their age." He pat my back and got up, giving me a small smile. "Now, how about I go get the campfire started while you take a breather in here? Then, we can make some s'mores and tell introduce ourselves, would that make you feel better?"

"I guess…" I sighed, giving the man a thankful look as he nodded and left to get the fire started, leaving me alone inside for a bit.

Sighing, I inched toward the window and looked out, seeing Max walk toward the campfire. Ben and Gwen seemed to be arguing over on the table a few feet away from the RV, only for Gwen to spot me in the window and wave to me with a smile. Shyly, I waved back and quickly backed away from the window, feeling my face heat up.

"Great…. Just great…" I facepalmed at the warm feeling in my gut, remembering something from when I was ten. "Welp… The crush I had on her is back…." I groaned, shaking my head and fiddling with the Omnitrix for a moment, deciding to take a look at all the aliens I had unlocked, just in case they've changed.

Pushing a button, the face of the watch popped up and showed the silhouette of Heatblast, making me smile at the memories of Ben screwing around with him. Turning it slightly, I almost immediately slapped the button down in excitement at the sight of Ditto. After a few more turns, it looks like I have all of the first ten aliens, along with Ditto, my personal favorite.

"Hmm…." I turned the watch back to Grey Matter, unsure if I should turn into him immediately and just pull what Ben's kid did in the show. "That could work. Have all of them unlocked immediately, along with the master control." I shook my head and laughed. "Nah, that'd be cheating."

"What would be cheating?" A familiar voice asked as the door opened, revealing Gwen as she took the seat across from me. "Oh, that's a weird watch. Does it even tell the time?"

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't." I told her, trying to hide my face behind my hair. "I-I'm…." I trailed off for a moment, realizing that Cody isn't really a girl's name. Quick, make one on the spot! "L-Louise Rosewater, nice to meet you."

Gwen gave me a polite smile, nodding a little. "I'm Gwen Tennyson and the dweeb that brought you here is Ben, my cousin." She greeted herself, groaning a little at the mention of Ben. "He didn't hurt you though, did he? I know he can be kinda idiotic sometimes, but I don't think he'd do it on purpose." She asked in concern, frowning at the very obvious bandages on my head.

"He didn't hurt me. He actually helped me." I calmly told her, nervously scratching my neck as I slowly moved my Omnitrix arm underneath the table. "Whatever he told you is probably true."

She gave me a flat look. "That you came from space? And that you were looking for Jangles the moon monkey?"

I winced at the last part, cursing my concussed ramblings. "Okay, the space part is true. The monkey bit though…." I pointed at my head, shrugging. "I did hit my head pretty hard."

Gwen looked like she didn't believe me, frowning and giving me a concerned look as she pulled out her laptop. "Let's look up the symptoms for concussions, okay? Maybe you just dreamed it all up."

I pulled my right arm back up, sighing a little at her reaction, the Omnitrix's center still popped up and now showing Ditto. "This is something the aliens left on me…. If you want proof, just push down on the button."

Gwen studied it for a moment, her eyes going back and forth between the Omnitrix and my serious face. "Okay, but if this is a prank by mega dweeb out there, I'm going to make you regret it." She sighed and pushed the button down, deciding to humor me for a moment.

I suddenly felt strange as a green light flashed, my body suddenly feeling like it turned into a burning liquid in a matter of seconds, and in the next moment it was over and Gwen stared at me in shock. My head had retained some of my white hair, in the form two small mohawks on both sides of my head, a single black frill going down the middle of the hair. Somehow the bandages on my head stayed with the transformation. The rest was standard Ditto, except for the clothes, instead of a black suit it was a simple white sundress

"So?" I nonchalantly asked in my new, high, double toned voice, suddenly feeling playful. "I was telling the truth, wasn't I?" I smiled widely at her still frozen face, getting up off my seat and instinctively splitting in two. The both of me laughed playfully at her, finally snapping her out of her shock.

"Louise…." Gwen slowly said, looking at the both of me. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, we're fine!" We both said at once, fighting our sudden case of ADHD. "We really want to play now, and we don't know why! Ask your questions, quick!" We both were visibly shaking from our restraint.

Gwen blinked at the anxious looks on both of my faces. "Okay, uh, are you really human?"

"Not at the moment." The me on the left answered.

"We. are. Ditto!" The me on the right laughed at what she said, causing her twin to join in.

"Aww man, I love that movie!"

"Me too!"

"High five!" Both of me high fived with loud laughter, Gwen watching the scene with a smile at the silliness of the situation.

"Hey, are we forgetting something?" The me on the left suddenly frowned, scratching her somehow still bandaged head. "I think we are…."

The me on the right scratched her chin. "I don't think so…."

"It was something about a murderbot….."

Both of me gasped, facepalming simultaneously with a loud slap. "Aaahhh….. Gwen….?"

Having a sinking feeling in her belly, Gwen slowly answered. "What?"

"Remember to slap us when we turn back to normal." The me on the right groaned.

"There's a murderbot with two little floaty buddies currently hunting us down." The me on the left explained with a sheepish smile, scratching her arm.

"What?!" Gwen screamed in shock.

"We can take them! Don't panic!" Lefty held up her hands. "Just get the others in here, I can explain everything once they are here."

"Why didn't you say anything earlier!" Gwen glared at the both of me.

The both of me didn't say anything, just pointed at their bandages, earning a blush from the girl as she struggled to come up with a response. Shaking her head, she went to the door and called everyone in. Ben was the first one in, giving the both of me an excited look.

"Cool!" He cheered, coming up to left me and grabbing her arm. "I saved it! I get to keep it!"

"Uh, no." Left me deadpanned, joining right me at the table. "If I were going to be kept by anyone, It'll be Gwen over here."

Right me continued for Left, giving Ben a look. "You look like you'd forget about us like a pet hamster. Gwen seems responsible enough, though."

Left laughed at Ben's sad expression. "Nah, I kinda see you as a kid brother. Trust us, we have some good pranks if you wanna learn them." She gave him a goofy smile, holding up her hand for a high five, which he happily returned.

"What's going on in her-!" Grandpa stopped at the sight of both of me, his mouth turning into a thin line as he gave me a calculating look.

"Before you freak out, my name is Louise, the human girl you helped and…." Left slowly started, holding up a finger.

"You... might want to know about the murderbot." Right cautiously finished, now slamming her head rhythmically against the table.

"What?!" Grandpa screamed as Ben gave me an excited look, no doubt expecting an alien vs robot battle. "And you didn't tell me!"

The both of me silently pointed at the bandages, deadpanning with a frown.

"Oh, er, fine…" Grandpa sighed and his glare softened, running a hand through his hair. "What does it look like?"

"Spider-ish lower body with a humanoid torso and clawed hands, it's got these two floaty minion bots in its shoulders. I think even Gwen can take one minion out with a shovel…." Left described, wincing at every thump right did with her head. "Would you stop that?"

"No. *thump! Feel to bad. *thump!"

"We both feel the same pain, cut it out! I don't wanna deal with both the robots and a headache you just caused." Left groaned, grabbing her twin and merging back into one.

"Much better." I smiled as Ben looked at me in shock, apparently surprised at what I just did. "...What? Got something on my face?" I mock felt my face, frowning at Ben.

Grandpa coughed and gave me a look. "As much as I would like to ask questions about how you turned into…. that." He waved at me, obviously trying to hide his secret from us. "Ben, Gwen, stay inside. Louise and I are going to have a little talk, outside."

"Okay?" I blinked and followed him out, taking a seat at the camp table. "So…."

He gave me a stern look. "Look, this doesn't look good for you." Max crossed his arms, frowning at me. "You came out of nowhere and put my family in danger…" He sighed, taking a seat across from me. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Uh, the guy trying to get the Omnitrix, the thing on my wrist, is called…." I struggled to remember for a moment, closing my eyes for a moment before snapping my fingers. "Vilgax. Yeah, that's his name. The ship I was on got a couple of good shots in though, so he might just send wave after wave of disposable minions after me if he is out of commission for a while." I shrugged, narrowing my eyes on some movement between the trees on the edge of the clearing. "And it looks like they're here."

I quickly leaped from my spot, showing my newfound agility as I sped toward the movement, splitting myself into eight me's with a battle cry. At the sight of red metal, we all jumped onto the floating drones, a few beams narrowly missing the few of us who got too close to the weapons on the front.

"Rosewater barrage!" We all screamed at once as we latched onto them, dragging them onto the ground with a crash. "Clone riot!" We gave another shout, doubling our numbers and ripping the drones apart piece by piece.

"You know, these guys are surprisingly easy to beat." One me noted as she ripped a laser arm off the drone she was punching, using it as a bat against its owner.

"I know, right?" Another me agreed, ripping out any important wires she saw.

"Eh, poor design."

The Omnitrix started its beeping and we looked at the brutalized remains of the drones, giving each other high fives and celebrating our first fight as aliens. A few moments later, a red light flashed, turning me back to normal.

Feeling a little woozy, I smiled and waved at Max, hoping he caught all that. "Told you about the minions! Oh, Ben, you can get a souvenir from these guys!" I chuckled, pointing at the remains of the drones as I made my way back to Max, seeing Ben and Gwen standing next to him and staring at me in shock.

Ben pretty much fangirl screamed as he dashed to the droids, grabbing whatever he could from their strewn apart parts. "You are now officially my best friend!"

"Ben! Drop that right now! It could be dangerous!" Max scolded him, running to Ben and making him drop everything he picked up.

Gwen gave me a dry look, giving me a frown. "Did you really name your attacks?" She crossed her arms and giggled. "Well, if it were Ben, I'd probably mock him for it."

I shyly looked away, suddenly finding a nearby tree interesting. "It sorta came out on its own…."

Gwen pat my shoulder and smiled at me. "Don't tell my doofus of a cousin this, but I thought it was pretty cool." She whispered to me and walked away to examine the two robots, my heart fluttering a little as my stomach suddenly had butterflies in it.

I slowly went to the camp table and sat down, leaving them to look at the drones. With a little groan, I held my chest, trying to calm my racing heart. I didn't really expect to react to Gwen that way, feeling like a pedo.

"Really? You are crushing on a ten year old girl!" I mentally chastising myself with a huff, before my traitorous mind came up with a reason to go along with it. "You're a little girl too. It should be alright, if you don't do anything dirty." My face heated up at the thought of the various 'acts' the internet has done to kid Gwen, an unfamiliar feeling brewing just above my new…. equipment.

"Hey, Louise?" Grandpa's voice startled me out of my musings, the big man raising a brow at my red face. "Are you alright?" He asked in concern. "You look a little feverish."

"O-Oh, er, I'm fine." I stuttered and gave the drone corpses a look, seeing Ben walking away from them with a leg in his arms, a stupid grin on his face. "Finally let him keep something?"

Max sighed. "Yeah, he can be pretty stubborn." He explained before smiling at me, giving the Omnitrix on my arm a look. "Well, with a device as powerful as that, you'll have to learn how to use it, and fast."

At this, I smiled. "Oh, I already know how to work it, don't worry about that. But using the alien transformations though…. I still need some work, Ditto was the only one I used on this thing." I nervously giggled, holding up the Omnitrix, its face red. "I just gotta wait for the cooldown to end before I can transform again." I explained at his questioning look, tapping at the face of the watch. "Let's just hope momma-bot won't show up before then."

"I hope so, too." He agreed, smiling with me. "Well, I'll be inside the Rust Bucket if you need me. I'll be listening on the radio for any word of a robot." He took a few steps toward the RV, and gave me a serious look. "Just keep an eye on my grandkids, okay?" He ordered, his tone all but promising my death if anything happened.

"Okay!" I fearfully squeaked out, earning a pleased nod from him before he went inside. "Geez, like I wouldn't help if they were in trouble…." I quietly grumbled to myself, a little disconcerted about Max's distrust. "Can't say I don't blame him…"

"Hi!"

"Ahhh!" I fell out of my seat at the sudden voice.

"Whoa! Are you alright?" Ben's face came into view, sporting his trademark smile. "Who am I kidding? You're a real life hero!" He offered a hand, which I accepted.

Gwen slapped the back of his head once I got back onto my seat, glaring at her cousin. "Sorry about him, he can be pretty stupid most of the time."

"Hey! At least I don't have a schedule that's color coded!" Ben snarked back, glaring at her.

I smiled at Gwen, raising a brow. "Really? Color coded schedules?"

Gwen's face turned a cute shade of pink. "What's so wrong about that? It was so I won't do the same thing two days in the row for the summer."

"Clever." I giggled at her reaction. "I wish I was that organized."

"Moooving on!" Ben interrupted, giving me a look. "I wanna hear about how you turned into an alien! That's so freaking cool!" He spotted the Omnitrix on my arm and grabbed it, pulling it closer to see. "Does this turn you into aliens?"

"Yep, though there is a time limit for how long I can stay as one." I smiled at his enthusiasm, deciding to explain the watch to them. "See how the face is red? That means it's in cooldown, so I have to wait a bit before I can do it again."

"Awww…." Ben groaned, a little upset that I can't transform back to back. "How long do you have to wait?"

Scratching my chin, I hummed a little in thought. "Uh, five minutes, I think?"

"Well, at least we don't have to wait all that long." Ben smiled at me.

"No showing off yet." Gwen spoke up, raising a brow at the both of us. "We still have that third robot to deal with."

A few minutes went by as I made a plan with my favorite duo. I showed them all the Aliens I had once the Omnitrix finished its cooldown, taking a little pride in showing off. It wasn't too long until we decided on good ol' Diamond Head, ruling out Upgrade since I wanted to be careful about any defensive things the robot might have against him.

Once we finished planning, completely disregarding Ben's idea of just running through the woods and hunting down the robot, my stomach growled. "Oh, heh, do you guys have anything to eat around here?"

Ben and Gwen shared a look, their faces paling at a memory. "Uh, you might not want what grandpa has." Gwen shuddered. "Unless you want some marinated mealworms… Or the sheep's tongue."

I shuddered, gagging a little. "No thank you."

"Well, I've got some hard candies and rice cakes in my pack if you want some." Gwen then glared at Ben. "And I think he can share at least half the candy bar he has in his."

"Uh, no. Not happening." Ben denied, shaking his head. "I called dibs on it, and nobody's gonna take it away."

"Oh really?" I smiled evilly at him, raising the Omnitrix. "I wonder if one of the gal's in this will change your tune?" I then frowned a little. "Wait, what kind of bar is it?"

"A Hershey's bar, why?"

"And it's been in the heat, in your pack, since you've started this trip, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Never mind, I don't want it." I sighed, hopes dashed. "It's probably a melted mess by now…"

"Ah, my stuff!" Ben panicked, quickly getting up and going into the Rust Bucket to save his things from a chocolatey doom.

"That idiot… he probably left the wrapper open after getting a bite." Gwen giggled, a wide smile on her face.

"Let's just hope his clothes are safe from the chocolate mess." I laughed with her. "Man, I'm glad I'm here. I can just tell hanging with you guys is going to be fun!" I held up my hand, to which she happily slapped.

Gwen gave me a sly smile. "I'm happy you're here. You're going to make our trip very… interesting." She looked at the Omnitrix in thought for a second. "Can you take that off? Maybe even lend it to me for a bit once you deal with the robot?"

"I know that there's a way… Buuut, I can't remember it." I shrugged, shaking my head. "Some kind of voice code thing I need to say."

"Really?"

"Yup. The only code I know is this… Access master control." I spoke up, earning a blip from my alien watch in response.

"Access denied." It replied in a robotic tone.

"Huh? Didn't expect that." I raised a brow, giving it a few pokes. "You got anything else to say?"

"Negative." It gave out a little chime. "I am not yet programmed for conversation."

"Uh, okay? So can I ask for a few more aliens to be unlocked?" I blinked, scrunching my face at it.

"Within a few restrictions." It replied. "Is there anything you request?"

"How about…. that ice bug one?" I slowly said.

"Please elaborate. There are…. 1,000 insectoid species that use ice in some form."

"The one that can fly and go intangible."

"Request for Necrofriggian DNA confirmed…." It whirred for a moment, the face of the Omnitrix slowly spinning and turning a gentle blue. "Processing….."

"I assume that you totally meant to do that?" Gwen deadpanned, causing my face to heat up in embarrassment. "How did you know about that bug one?"

"I saw one." I shyly looked away from her. "And, if we get it, we won't have to worry about an air conditioner on this trip ever again."

"Cool, I've always wanted a living AC." Gwen joked, giggling a little. "I don't trust the air conditioner in the Rust Bucket anyways."

"Request…. approved." The Omnitrix chimed, showing the silhouette of Big Chill on its face.

"Thank you, Omni." I thanked it, smiling a little. "Let's hope you are one of those learning AI's. If so, we are going to be great friends."

"... Designation change: Omni…. Change approved…." It's lights blinked, green changing into a gentle pink. "User, I do learn from my bearers. I am just in default mode." It informed, the synthesized voice taking on a feminine tone. "I was designed to provide assistance and some companionship as I adapt to his or her needs upon activation, becoming more efficient as time went on."

"Neat, my nerdy fantasies are coming true." I fangirled at the piece of tech on my wrist. "I'm looking forward to how you turn out."

"Turn out?" It asked, confused.

"She means what you develop into." Gwen explained with a smile. "Or rather… Who."

"Thank you, term saved in glossary." It thanked. "Going into rest mode…."

As Omni went quiet, the Omnitrix's lights staying pink as the AI went to sleep, I ignored the mischievous look Gwen gave me, deciding to go inside the Rust Bucket to look for something somewhat edible.

"Soooo?" Gwen drawled as I got up. "Nerdy fantasies?" She asked with a giggle. "Should I be getting some glasses for you?"

"Shut up…." I groaned, my face heating up. "I am a nerd, okay?" I admitted, just knowing that my ears are turning red. "I sat through all of the Star Wars movies and Lord of the Rings. I've even watched all of Star Trek... Including all the spinoffs."

"Whoa, turbo nerd territory, eh?" Gwen asked in awe, letting out a low whistle.

"Yep…." I squeaked out.

Gwen pat my head, surprising me at the action. "Nothing to worry about." She laughed at my reaction. "It shows that you are way smarter than my dweeb cousin."

"T-Thanks." I managed to stutter out, dashing the rest of the way into the RV, wanting nothing else but to get away from the butterflies in my belly.

I sighed as I stood in the doorway, leaning into a nearby cabinet. "Great…." I chastised myself, closing my eyes. "Just make yourself seem even weirder, why don't ya…."

Max saw me come in all flustered, but said nothing nonetheless, only sending a curious look my way as he listened to the radio. Ben, who was slowly pulling his clothes out his pack, chocolate staining everything and dripping off of a few unlucky articles.

"I told you so." I laughed at Ben, earning an unamused glare. "What? It should be common knowledge that you don't hide an open chocolate bar in your pack, in the middle of summer."

"Shut up…." Ben scowled at his pack, slowly pulling out a white shirt that had a large brown stain on its front. "I thought it would be fine."

"Just remember not to do it again." I told him as I opened the fridge, almost recoiling at the sight of a bowl filled with wriggling mealworms. "Isn't there any normal food in here?"

Max laughed. "I planned to make this trip an adventure for my grandkids' taste buds. I wasn't really expecting to take on another kid, so you're gonna have to share with them."

With a little sigh, I took a bottled water. "You really gotta get some normal food." I told him as I took a swig, shutting the fridge door with my elbow. "I know how to cook some pretty fancy stuff if you really want them to try some new foods." I gave him a knowing smile. "I can even whip up some sheep's tongue for you, alongside a nice homemade chicken noodle soup for Ben, Gwen and I."

"You can cook?" Ben asked, his clothes momentarily forgotten.

"I used to cook with my Uncle." Smiling at the memory, I nodded. "He had some weird tastes, sort of like gramps over here." I joked, earning a laugh from Max. "But I did learn how to cook up quite a few recipes that would blow your minds. How about you leave me in charge of the food for your guys' road trip?" I offered, Ben throwing a pleading look at his grandpa.

Max raised an eyebrow at me and was about to say something, until the radio crackled and a nervous sounding man started talking. "Uh, we need some help over here! We're being attacked by… You're not gonna believe this… a robot! We're at the ranger's station, please help!"

At this, I ran out of the RV getting Gwen and coming back in, Max quickly hopping into the driver's seat and driving somewhere. I took a seat by the radio and picked up the microphone, telling the man that help is on its way.

The Rust Bucket raced to the location, taking only a few minutes to get there. Calmly, I went to the door, stopping just at the edge as Gwen gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Taking a deep breath, I went out, followed by the Tennyson's.

I saw the big robot fire a laser at a nearby SUV, causing it to explode in a shower of shrapnel and fire. There were a few people taking cover on the side of a building, one injured guy bleeding out of the many holes in his mangled hunk of swiss cheese of a leg.

Looking at the scene with a sinking feeling in my belly, fighting my many doubts about this situation I'm in. Could I really do this? This is my life now…. I'm going to have a dangerous life from now on…. The mercenaries…. Vilgax…. Even the ghostfreak incident…. I'm gonna have to deal with all of that….

I held up the Omnitrix, giving each of the Tennyson's a determined look as I pressed a button and twisted the face a few times. "Stay back and try to help evacuate some people. I don't want any of you to get hurt, okay?"

Without waiting for a reply, I ran towards the robot, climbing onto the hood of a car. "Hey, you transformer reject! Want this?!" I yelled at the massive thing, it tilting its head and holding one clawed hand in my direction. "Come and get it!"

And with that announcement, I slapped the face of the Omnitrix down, a bright green flash blinding everyone in the area as I transformed. In a matter of moments, my body hardened and grew into a slender crystalline woman, her whole cyan body shimmering in the firelight. My hair crystallized too, turning into multiple deep blue strands of crystals that were somehow flexible enough to move in the gentle breeze of the night. Two large cyan crystals jutted out the back of my white dress, just above my shoulder blades.

The transformation finished, ending with me leaping toward the robot's legs with a crystalline axe that formed from my left hand, taking a swipe at one of them with a yell. I was promptly kicked into a car, nearly hitting a man as he ran away from his hiding place. A laser hit my chest, slamming me deeper into bent metal as pain flared in my mind, a blackened mark where it hit.

"Louise!" I heard Gwen yell.

I hurriedly climbed out of the mangled mess of a car, spotting Gwen as she ran to me, bringing the robot's attention to her. It held up its hand toward her, the end lighting up as it charged up the attack.

"No!"

"Boom!"

The blast was deafening, making everything go quiet. My chest screamed at me in pain as I dropped to my knees and held my wound as a few shards fell from it, Gwen's face popping into my view as I saw her say something to me.

Taking a deep breath, I stood up, ignoring the stabbing pain and how Gwen tried to stop me her every word falling on my deaf ears. I used my free hand to gently push her away, giving her a small smile as I turned my left hand into a large shield big enough to protect us both for a moment.

"Go." Was all I said, making a diamond wall grow between us.

The robot kept firing lasers at me, each one reflecting off my shield and hitting just about everything around the robot. Having an idea, I angled the shield a little bit, like using a mirror to bounce a light. One beam, luckily for me, bounced off and vaporized the robot's head.

It stood still for a moment, all movement stopping as it froze in place with its arm still out. Then it fell, falling like a cut tree onto a park ranger's car and causing the ground to shake at the force it fell.

Chuckling weakly, I turned around and reverted my hand back to normal. A little crowd was cheering at the destruction of their attacker, all of them waving at me and hugging each other in happiness. All of the Tennyson's were on the sidelines watching me with various expressions on their faces. Gwen was looking at my cracked chest with a worried frown as she stood next to a cheering Ben, even Max looked a little worried for me.

I gave them a little nod and limped off to where I knew the road was, going past some trees that hid me from the watching crowd. Once I got to the road, I sat down, hissing a little in pain. My hearing came back a few minutes later once the Rust Bucket came to pick me up.

Gwen was the one to open the door, running out and giving me a hug. "Thanks for saving me, I owe you one." She thanked me, giving my cheek a small peck. "Now, are you okay? That looks like it hurts…."

The Omnitrix chose this moment to time out, turning me back to normal. I hissed a little in pain, a large purple bruise appearing on my chest. My dress did nothing to hide the bruise, giving Gwen a good look at it.

I coughed and smiled. "I'll be fine." I assured her, then frowned at her, having a thought as Max and Ben came out of the RV. "Now that you all know what's in store for me… Are you guys sure you want me to come along? You don't have to get involved with me if you don't want to…." I brought my gaze to the ground.

My face suddenly stung at Gwen's sudden slap, her glare scaring me a little. "Oh, no. You're coming with us." She then gave me a small smile, pink dusting her cheeks. "I'm not gonna let my hero save me without any reward."

"Yeah! Like I would let you go too, buddy. I need someone to save me from grandpa's food." Ben agreed, his face scrunching at the idea of eating mealworms. "You're staying."

Max smiled at me, getting closer to ruffle my hair. "Come on, kiddo. The more the merrier."

Sniffling, I hugged Gwen, practically crying from happiness. "Thank you!" I squeezed harder, not wanting to let go. "You guys are the best."

Gwen immediately returned my hug, her face turning a bright red.

A few minutes later, after dinner.

"I can't believe it…" Ben said in disbelief, burping a little. "You made sheep's tongue into actual food."

"Well, it was still kinda gross…." Gwen gave me a thankful look. "But Louise sure did her best to make it easier for us."

Max took another bite of his, a wide smile on his face. "Looks like we have a little chef with us now." He laughed. "You're in charge of cooking now, because of whatever you did to mine. Just one word: Yum!"

"I just made some things from scratch…" I shyly said, finishing my food. "You really need to get some normal things though. I can only do so much with the food you have already." I told him as I put way my plate. "Seriously, I've never even heard of canned octopus, and who gets pig testicles to snack on for a road trip?" I deadpanned, giving Max a flat look. "Oh wait… It's you!"

"I'll see about getting more food the next time we grocery shop." Max laughed at me.

I let out a loud yawn, tearing up a little. "Well, I think it's about time to sleep for me..." I said as I stretched, before blinking in realization. "Wait, where am I gonna sleep? Gwen and Ben have the bunks, and Max has his."

"You'll sleep with me." Gwen told me, her face taking on a pink hue. "I'm the only other girl here, so you'll share it with me." Then her face turned darker, realizing something. "And you don't have any other clothes, do you?"

"Er, no…"

Even Max's face turned pink at my confirmation. "We'll go clothes shopping real soon too… Gwen, she's about the same size as you, so you can share some of your clothes."

"I have a feeling this is gonna be a long trip….." I sighed, facepalming in embarrassment.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry about the double post thing…. Didn't realize the problem till now. I'm using the app, so I'm gonna be a little stupid until I figure this out.

"Uh, Louise?" Gwen's soft voice woke me up a little, my left arm numb from something. "Please, wake up…."

"Nnmm… Wha?" I drowsily opened my eyes, seeing the back of Gwen's head. "Wha's goin on?"

"You cuddle in your sleep, and I'm getting up." Gwen quietly deadpanned, startling me into retracting my arms and quickly get up.

"I'm sorry! I forgot I did that! Usually, I have a pillow to do it with and…" I shyly looked away, feeling my face turn red. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I guess." Gwen shrugged, getting of the bunk and opening a drawer. "It's better than Ben's snoring." She giggled a little, flashing me a smile. "To be honest, I think it's kinda cute, like you're a big koala."

My face turned even more red. "K-Koala?! Is that a good thing?"

"Yep. Here's some clothes for you." She giggled at my expression, placing some folded clothes next to me. "I'll be out in a minute." She informed me, taking her change of clothes into the bathroom, the sound of a shower turning on shortly after.

I quietly sighed, giving the Omnitrix on my arm a look, the pink lights mocking my sanity. "So it was all real…"

"Affirmative." Omni replied in its synthetic voice, startling me a little from its abruptness. "All the events from the previous day have all occurred in reality." The lights blinked. "I do not understand why my operator would need confirmation.

"Okaaay?" I unsurely drawled, kind of forgetting that the AI was in there. "Everything did happen kinda quick yesterday, sort of thought it was all a dream." I explained, sighing a little.

"Noted that my operator has lower intelligence than hypothesized." It gave another blink, the face turning slightly. "Scans also say that your hormones are fluctuating rather oddly."

"Okay, that does sound bad." I frowned, a little worried.

"Negative. The effects are…. Nonlethal." The watch's lights flickered again. "You are going through what your race calls 'puberty.' Do I need to explain?"

"Er, no need. Just go back to sleep, or whatever you do, okay?" I nervously told it, a little spooked at the news. "I need some time…"

"Your cycle shoul-"

"Shut up!"

"Ugh, you shut up!" Ben's voice groaned from above. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"Sorry!" I quickly apologized, my face turning pink again. "And you! I don't wanna hear from you for a while!" I whisper yelled at the offending alien device, slamming it against the wall of the RV a couple of times.

"Understood. Going into rest mode." It droned, the Omnitrix giving off a few clicks and beeps.

"Geez…" I sighed, running a hand through my long hair, wincing at a few of the knots. "This is gonna be a long day…"

"Okay, it's your turn." Gwen informed me as she got out of the bathroom, wearing her signature cat shirt and jeans. "I left my shampoo and stuff in there for you." She stretched and went towards the front, going see what her grandpa has planned for the day.

With another sigh, I gathered my clothes and went into the bathroom, quickly hopping into the shower. It wasn't until I had lathered up my hair that the realization of being a girl hit again, making me feel curious, my heart thumping faster in my chest. Quickly rinsing off, I slowly and apprehensively lowered a hand towards my new 'equipment,' gently feeling around the overly sensitive lips, letting out a shuddering gasp in surprise at the sensations jolting up my spine as my shaking legs almost gave out from underneath me. "Whoa…. Okay, this is way different from messing with Jr…. Good to know."

Still shaking and deciding to stop my explorations, I put on the clothes Gwen gave me, giving myself a quick look over in the mirror. The pink bunny T-shirt wasn't really what I wanted, but it was something to wear for today. Gwen also, thankfully, gave me some blue jeans.

Smirking at my reflection, I nodded to myself. "You can do this, Cody. You have the Omnitrix now, just don't die." I then frowned, shaking my head. "What a way to hype yourself for the upcoming shitstorm."

I chuckled and left the bathroom, going to the seats at the table, sitting across from Gwen as she fiddled with her laptop. "Sooooo….?" I drawled giving her a wide smile, causing her to giggle and look at me. "Where are we heading? I know we're on a road trip, but I don't know the travel plan."

Gwen smiled. "Max is taking us to Washington, D.C. The first thing we're going to see are the monuments and then the Museum of Natural History." She informed, getting a little excited at the mention of the museum. "But, before all of that, Max is going to make a quick stop at the Mega-Mart to pick up some food and get you clothes." She eyed what I was wearing. "What I gave you doesn't feel like it's your style."

"Yup. While I like pink…." I pulled at the shirt a little, pursing my lips. "It's not really what anyone would see me wearing too often." I shrugged. "I miss my hat though…"

"You had a hat?"

"Yeah. It was this black beanie with pink cat ears sewn on it." I smiled at a memory. "My mom gave it to me when I started helping my uncle at his café. "Don't take it off for him." Mom always said."

"Why did she say that?"

I grinned. "It was her way of messing with him. Eventually everyone who worked there got their own animal themed hat to join in on the joke. Heh, he gave up when Wade, the most stubborn cashier you've ever seen, got this baseball cap with these big fox ears attached." I chuckled at the memory. "Long story short, the place was renamed The Wildhouse."

Gwen giggled. "Sounds like it would be fun to work there." She then smiled at me, typing a few things into her laptop. "I'll bring it up with Grandpa about going to visit. Where is it?"

"Uh, It's in Chicago." I scratched my cheek, frowning a little. "I don't know how long I was in space though… So I don't think they'd recognize me. What year is it again?" I cautiously asked, kind of knowing the answer.

"I almost forgot about that. It's 2005." Gwen informed, carefully looking at me over her laptop.

I blinked in fake surprise, before sadly shaking my head. "So it would appear I've gone back in time, too." I calmly deduced, before giving the laptop a suspicious glance. "I thought that your computer looked a little old…"

"Wait, gone back in time?" Gwen asked skeptically, raising a brow.

"I have a watch that can turn me into countless aliens and I came from space." I dryly deadpanned in return. "What's your point?"

"Touché." Gwen accepted my reasoning. "So, how far into the future did you come from."

"About…twelve years? Yup, the café hasn't even opened yet." I then smirked at Gwen, deciding to mess with her a little. "I think I met you, well, future you." At her hopeful expression, I put my hand to my chin in fake thought. "Hmmm…. Do you wanna know what future you is doing?"

Gwen excitedly nodded, practically breaking her neck at the speed.

"Well… You got glasses." I informed with a smile, seeing Gwen frown at the news. "You also gained a crippling addiction to my strawnana smoothies." I fibbed a little, causing her to give me a glare.

"No way." Gwen crossed her arms. "And 'Strawnana?' Really?"

I held up my hands in defence. "I'm not lying. I was in charge of the smoothies at the time, so I gotta name them." I smirked mischievously at her. "You haven't tried one of my smoothies yet in this time, so you can't judge." I laughed. "And I haven't told you about the time you used you black belt kung fu skills to teach Wade a lesson about treating people, specifically you, better."

"Okay… That sounds like me." Gwen giggled, smiling widely. "I guess I do get my black belt. Good to know."

"Hey, kids, you both know I can hear everything from here, right?" Max's voice spoke up from the front of the Rust Bucket, before his voice took on a stern tone. "Louise, don't talk about the future anymore, okay? I don't want to deal with you breaking time along with your watch and whatever else is after it." He adjusted the rear view mirror for a moment to see us. "Gwen…." He trailed off for a moment, his eyes focusing on me for a moment before going back to her. "I'll get a blender. Those smoothies of her's sound kind of good." He chuckled, making Gwen groan in embarrassment. "Oh, and wake up Ben. We should be at the Mega-Mart by three, if traffic lets us."

"I think he's taking advantage of not having to go to school and sleeping in." I pointed out, giggling a little. "Heck, I'd probably do the same thing if I wasn't used to waking up early."

"Just wake him up." Max said, turning the Rust Bucket onto an off ramp.

"Fine. Hey, Ben! I'm going to give you the watch!" I yelled from my seat, causing a suddenly awake Ben to immediately jump out of the bunk and promptly fall flat on his face. "Just kidding!"

I laughed with Gwen as he gave me an annoyed look, scratching his head as he got up and dug through his drawer for clothes. "Jerks…" I heard him grumble under his breath.

"Sorry, buddy!" I smiled, still giggling a little. "I was told to wake you up."

"Ugh… Fine." Ben yawned, pulling out his signature black and white shirt, the only article of clothing that survived the chocolate disaster yesterday. "Just don't do it again."

A few hours later….

The hours passed pretty quickly as I read a book from Gwen's little collection in her pack, the whole thing about these various clans of cats fighting over control of a specific hunting ground after the biggest clan got taken out by a bear. It was a pretty good read so far, the bear being my favorite character as he turned out to be lazy until attacked.

Gwen passed her time with some research on her laptop, trying to find my family through some searches, a little curious about them. I did feel a little bad for lying to her, but felt I shouldn't tell her, or anyone here, about the the whole 'I was a dude and this is all a show!' thing. I I really shouldn't give anyone an existential crisis.

And Ben….

"Hey…. Hey…. Heyheyheyheyheyheyhey-"

"What!"

"Could you show me some of the other aliens you have?" He asked, stars in his eyes like a certain gem hybrid. "Pleaaaase?"

"Don't you have that game system?" I groaned. "Play on that."

"But the batteries ran out, and the other one is still packed."

"Ugh…Okay, but it's only cause I want to practice with them too." I held up my arm and pressed a button on the Omnitrix, the face popping up and showing the silhouette of Heatblast. "Oh, not this girl." I quickly gave it a turn, Ghostfreak taking its place.

"This one looks like it'd be fun." Ben noted with a wide smile. "What about that fiery one? Why not him?"

"I don't think grandpa would like it if his things started burning."

"She's right!" Max chimed in from the driver's seat.

"How about…" I spun the face a few times, stopping on the large winged silhouette of Big Chill, giving Ben a cocky smirk. "...this one will be pretty 'chilling,' if you catch my drift."

Gwen facepalmed, trying really hard not to laugh at my horrible pun. "You did not…"

"Don't be so cold, Gwen."

"Oh my god…" She snickered. "It's so bad."

"I don't get it." Ben gave the both of us confused looks.

"Louise?" Max's voice came from up front. "You might want to see this…"

Frowning, I got up to see, taking over the front passenger seat. "Oh, that's not good… Good thing I have this girl on standby." I calmly noted the burning apartment building, smoke flowing out of the windows. "You don't mind if I….?" I held up my arm, giving Max a look.

"Go ahead. I'll bring us closer to pick you up when you're done." Max gave me a smile, Ben suddenly popping up next to me.

"It's hero time!" He cheered as I slammed my hand down onto the button.

I suddenly felt pleasantly cold as my body shifted into a tall, slender moth woman. My large pink wings suddenly erupted from my back and hit ben in the face, before wrapping around my black and pink body, the Omnitrix's face on my left shoulder. My antennae grew out and drug against the ceiling of the Rust Bucket, drawing out a small giggle from my new form.

I let out a small sigh, liking how natural this form feels. "I…. Got…. This…." My new whispery voice slowly said, a smile growing on my new mouth.

Instinctively, I went intangible and flew through the Rust Bucket, doing a few excited flips as I flapped my wings faster. It only took a few minutes to reach the burning building, going intangible again and going through the wall near the top floor.

Everything was ablaze when I got in, causing a frown to appear on my face as I put every fire I saw out with a few well placed ice breaths. After a little bit of exploring, I heard a woman calling for help. Calmly, I flew through a few more walls, following the panicked yells.

It wasn't long until I found her, hugging a young boy as the room slowly filled with fire. Putting it out, I slowly walked towards them, stopping within an arm's length away. I couldn't help but study her, probably a side effect of being this alien.

This young woman obviously dyed her hair, a pink strip down the right side of her head giving me the clue as her brown eyes stared at me in fear through her glasses. She was wearing this purple T-shirt with stars all over it, forming some constellation.

"W-What are you!" She finally asked, pulling the kid behind her. "Did you do this?!"

"A…friend…..and….no…." I held out my hand, giving her a reassuring smile, the effect lessened by my mouth. "I…want…to….help."

"Sis…" The kid slowly spoke up, giving me a look. "I think she really does want to help."

She looked at him, then gave me a determined look, her hand going in mine. "Fine. But if you do anything sketchy…"

"Got…. It…" I smiled, walking toward the window and freezing it over with one breath, giving it one hard kick. The whole wall fell apart and left an opening. "Gonna….need...to...trust…me."

"Oh, no! No no no no no!" She looked over the edge, seeing the fire trucks and the crowd that gathered. "I'm not jumping!"

"Sis, I think she's going to fly us down."

"No!" She started crying, her fear of heights taking over.

Rolling my eyes, I jumped up, instinctively grabbing the both of them with my feet and flying out of the hole. The woman screamed the whole time, her brother on the other hand was laughing.

"Sorry…" I whispered, gently lowering them to the ground with some difficulty. "Fastest…this...way."

"It's fine." The kid chuckled, giving his sister a knowing look as she shook. "Thank you for saving us, miss." He thanked me, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a yellow card. "Here, I want you to have this."

"Oh… thanks?" I awkwardly took the card, seeing the sumo on the front brought back some memories as I put it in a little pouch on my body.

"No, thank you." He smiled at me, a little blush on his face.

"Hey, Moth lady!" Gwen's voice startled me. "The fire was a diversion, the bad guys are getting away!"

"On… It." I nodded, flying upwards and looking for a speeding car. "Hmmmm…" I floated for a bit, spinning around a little, before spotting the car going at a way too fast speed. "Found…. You…" I chuckled, flapping my wings and speeding toward it.

I fazed into the back seat of the car, slapping the omnitrix on my shoulder and turning into Four Arms with a smile. My white hair was on the big lady I turned into, her body muscular and curvy like an Amazonian woman. My pink shirt stood out brightly against her red skin, her massive breasts stretching the material, the bunny on it having turned into a feral monster of some kind. My jeans gained rips and tears, showing off her toned legs. I dunno why, but I felt a little…. off in this form.

"Why hello there!" My new seductive voice smoothly greeted, the masked men in the front giving me horrified looks as I gave them a toothy smile and cracked my knuckles. "How about you two strapping young men pullover, hmmm?" I licked my lips and tilted my head, pointing at the one not driving. "Or his head is gonna find its way into your ass." I laughed and gave the driver a knowing look.

"Ahhh! How'd you get here!" The partner screamed, his eyes wide.

My laugh came out rather seductively, causing them both to visibly blush underneath their masks. "I heard that two men wanted some naughty fun tonight~." I stuck my tongue out, giving them a suggestive smile.

"Oh, yes! please!" The driver groaned pulling the car over, his partner giving the man a look and shaking his head.

"Okay, then…." I took a deep breath, suddenly glaring that them both. "Get the hell out of the car!" I demanded of them, punching the passenger door and sending it flying into a wall as I climbed out. "And hands against the wall!"

The driver happily did as I said, his buddy slowly doing the same out of fear of the massive red lady. A police car showed up shortly after I bent whatever metal I ripped off of the bad guys' car into some handcuffs, the driver moaning some very dirty stuff to me.

"Here are the people you're looking for, officer." I laughed as I lifted the duo with two arms, my other two arms nonchalantly crossed over my chest. "Don't mind this guy, he seems to like me a little too much." I giggled at the officer's disgusted reaction to the stain on the driver's pants.

"I love you…." He said as I placed him and his buddy next to the police car, earning a giggle from me as I trailed a muscular finger up his chin.

"Oh, baby…. I'm just too much woman for you. And besides…." I leaned in. "I'm going after a girl." I whispered into his ear, earning a shuddering groan as my Omnitrix suddenly beeping and causing me to pout. "You got this from here, right?" I asked the awestruck cop, earning a nod before I ran into an alleyway.

There was a flash, then I was back to normal, knowing what all just happened.

"Oh, god…. What the hell happened!?" I all but screamed, slamming my face into a nearby wall in embarrassment. "Four arms? Why? Ughhhhhh!"

The Omnitrix bleeped. "It would appear that some personality traits crossover while you are transformed, fascinating."

"Why was she like that!?"

There was a low whirr. "Tetramand females go through something similar to your race's puberty. During this time, they would search for a mate. They would either find a male that can best them in combat, or chose one of their liking." Omni explained. "The female Tetramand DNA appears to have came from a very famous consort that my maker frequented." Its lights blinked. "I assume it was by mistake that I have that information."

My face felt like it was burning. "Can I trade her out for different alien?"

"I apologize, I cannot allow that."

"I don't wanna 'death by snu snu' alien!"

"You do maintain your mental faculties while in every form. You may be affected by the mental physiologies of the different aliens, but you are still yourself deep down." Omni informed, blipping a little. "The form you are in will chose a mate from the people you like. Remember what you said while a Tetramand? That form already chose a potential mate it would like to pursue."

"Oh no…." I facepalmed, about ready to start another round of smashing my face into a nearby wall. "Just tell me… are there any other aliens I should worry about?"

"The one you and Ben call Wildmutt should be entering its heat soon."

"Okay, how long does that last?"

"By my calculations… an entire earth summer."

"Too long! Can I trade that one out?! Please! I really don't want to start leg humping!" I complained, glaring at the watch.

"...Request approved. Which one would you like?"

"Oh, uh, didn't expect you to approve that one…" I blinked, a little surprised. "I know you're all about the whole species name thing, but I don't know too many."

"Might I suggest the Sotoraggian?" The silhouette changed into that of a humanoid being, covered in sleek armor. "They are natural hunters, so it would make a suitable replacement." It blipped again. "They, too, go through a heat cycle, but that only makes them overly aggressive."

"And you think I won't attack anyone close to me." I shrugged, nodding a little. "Fine. I'll take it. Ugh… What's next? I'm actually an Anodite?"

"Yes."

"Haha, oh…. You don't know how to joke yet, do you?"

"Negative. One day isn't enough to instil a sense of humor."

I sighed and started walking out of the alley, feeling defeated. "Alright, I can accept this. How did you find out?"

"There is the massive presence of mana in your system, there are few species capable of the amount I am detecting." It informed. "Anodites are the closest match."

"Just go back into rest mode, okay? I need some time to think about this."

"Entering rest mode."

I frowned when I saw the Rust Bucket stop on the side of the street, just across where I stopped the robbers. Without a word, I went in, immediately going to the bunk and curling up.

"Hey…. Are you okay?" Ben slowly asked from where he was.

"Yup, I'm fine." I calmly told him as I stared at the wall. "Just learned some things I really wish wasn't true, but it all explains everything at the same time." I sighed, knowing full well that everyone was listening to me. "I'll tell you all later, okay?"

I heard some whispering, but it was too low to make out anything. The Rust Bucket started to move as everyone went quiet, leaving me to my thoughts….

The next day, inside the Mega-Mart.

Shaking my head, I chuckled at Ben's reaction to the Sumo Slammer card display. "Dude, they're just cards."

"But they're Sumo Slammers! I have all the others, but this one." Ben excitedly explained, pointing at the shiny golden one. "I just can't get it!"

Laughing, I started to walk away to find Max, only to be grabbed by Ben. "Do you want more canned octopus? If not, just let me go." I gave him a look as he practically dragged me into the cereal aisle.

He then gave me the puppy dog eyes.

"No."

"Not gonna happen."

*look intensifies!

"...ugh… Here." I caved, reaching into my back pocket and pulling out the card I got yesterday, earning gasp from him. "The kid I saved gave this to me. I was gonna keep it as a momento, buuut….." I glared at him, holding out the card. "I don't feel like being pressured into using my special watch to tear apart cereal boxes."

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" He hollered, wrapping me in a bone crushing hug.

"Just take care of that thing, okay?"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!! WHAT IS THAT!" Someone screamed, some crashing sounds coming from nearby.

"Oh, well then…" I blinked as Ben released me, the both of us going after the source. "See? I would've useless if I helped you destroy cereal for some sumo slammer cards!" I yelled at him once we saw the gangly and dirty form of Doctor Animo riding his trusty steed, AKA the giant mutated bullfrog through the store.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" I yelled at him, only to barely dodge his mount's tongue.

"Don't be a hero, kid. Go run along and play." Animo told us as Gwen showed up next to Ben and I.

"But what if we want to play with your froggie, mister?" I innocently asked the mad scientist, messing with the omnitrix behind my back. "It looks like it'd be fuuuuun to ride."

Animo looked shocked at what I just said, the crazy old man stopping what he was doing. " O-Oh, really? I actually felt kinda stupid riding this pitiable thing."

I gave him a big smile, answering him honestly. "Did ya make him? If you did, maybe you could make a pet shop! A lot of people would love some pets you could make."

Animo blinked and scratched his chin. "That sounds…. kind of brilliant! Child, what is your name?"

"Oh, uh, Louise." I chuckled at his attitude, a little surprised that my idea worked. "So, uh, sir…. What are you doing here?"

"Dr. Animo, pleased to meet you. Well, you see, I needed a part for my transmodulator." Animo pointed at his helmet, not noticing the looks Ben and Gwen were giving us. "It's all for my revenge plan, you see."

"Well, mister… I'm afraid I have to stop you, no matter how much I like you and your mad scientist vibe." I informed him, stopping with my innocent girl act. "Now, here's three options I'm gonna give you…. You can either leave and do the pet thing I suggested, which I really hope you pick that one. Two; You stay here and get arrested quietly. OR THREE!"

I held out my and slammed my palm down onto the omnitrix, a green flash blinding everyone as I transformed. A black and green metallic, blobby humanoid took my place. I then looked down at my hands and groaned. "Upgrade? Really? I thought I set it up for Four Arms."

The omnitrix symbol on my chest clicked and whirred, glowing pink. "I have learned something. I do not appreciate being handled so roughly." Omni's voice responded, annoyance vaguely saturating her voice. "My calculations say that you still have a chance of victory over your opponent."

"I'm sorry, okay? I did it all to be dramatic!" Ben and Gwen facepalmed at me.

Gwen groaned. "Great you made her mad, good job Louise."

"Okay, okay, my bad." I sighed and turned back to Animo, reaching for a nearby toaster and absorbing it into my hand. "Now back to you, what do you say?" I asked him as the toaster turned into a blaster somehow.

Animo stayed quiet for a few moments and stared at me, then smirked and kicked his mount, causing it to jump and land on me. "Ugh! You know I was really banking on you going into the pet biz…." I grunted and threw the frog off of me, it landing perfectly on the ground a few feet away.

All three of us chased the mad man through the various aisles, till he eventually stopped at the one full of pets. He then quickly blasted a bird and a hamster, mutating them into giant angry versions of themselves.

I fired a shot from my new blaster, it colliding into the hamster's face and exploding it's head in a matter of seconds like an overcooked hotdog. Gwen, Ben, Animo, and I gave the gory scene a surprised look then looked at the blaster.

"Okay…. Good thing I didn't take a shot at him." I shrugged, throwing the toaster back to the ground after turning it back to normal. "I might not have as much practice with this form as I'd like to."

Gwen looked sick at the bloody scene before her, her face a light shade of green. "Ugh! Really?! You just killed a hamster!"

"Hey, it was a mutated monster that probably would've tried to eat your face. I have no problem with what just happened." I just shrugged again, turning back to Animo and narrowing my optics at him, the mad scientist now on the mutated bird.

"I still have no quarrel with you, Louise. Now, leave me alone! I'm going to turn Washington D.C into Washington B.C!" Animo shouted before he flew out of a nearby skylight, his big frog following behind.

It was at this point the manager and Max finally showed up, apparently having watched everything from the sidelines.

"You saved the store! If there's anything I can do to repay you, anything you want!" The manager offered with a relieved smile.

"Just give us a generous discount when we get back here, okay? We gotta deal with doctor crazy doolittle out there and then finish our shopping." I shook his hand with my own massive one, nodding at Max and making a dash to the Rustbucket. "Sorry about the mess!"

I, gently this time, pushed the omnitrix symbol on my chest and turned back to my normal self once the RV got to chasing the bird Animo is riding on. A few hours passed as we chased the madman, the day quickly turning to night.

I sat in back with Gwen as she looked up Animo on the computer, staring out the window. "Doesn't that thing ever get tired? It's gotta rest sometime, even if it's mutated."

Max sighed happily. "Ahhh… Just like the good ol' days, before I retired."

Gwen raised an eyebrow at this. "Exactly what kind of plumber were you, Grandpa?"

"Oh, uh, er… A darn good one."

I tapped the omnitrix. "So, uh, Omni? I think we need to have a chat."

"Might I ask why?" The omnitrix made a few whirs and clicks.

"Well, how about setting some ground rules. I can't have you messing with transformations like that, even if I won in the end." I told her with a sigh. "Not that I blame you, I did slam pretty hard on the dial."

"That you did, it was…. unpleasant." Omni blipped, the pink lights dimming a little. "Be gentler with the dial, it will be unfortunate if you broke me."

"Deal. Just… if you feel you absolutely have to, pick for me, okay? And at the very least tell me the plan."

The dial of the omnitrix spun clockwise for a few moments, then Omni's voice responded. "That sounds most agreeable. User rules updated."

I smiled widely. "Now… how about that master control?"

"Access Denied. Why must you keep asking?"

I sighed and scratched my head. "Well, it'd be nice to rapidly shift forms without pressing the button and not have a time limit."

The dial of the omnitrix went still for a moment, it seemingly staring me down. "And what would you do with such power, user?"

"Probably have some fun exploring with all the different aliens, save a few lives, maybe even try to find your maker to give him some feedback on how you work and stuff." I smiled at the thought. "Heck, maybe even give him some ideas. I've only had you a day and I already want to see if fusions could be done."

"Fusions?"

"Yeah, combining two aliens together to make one. Like, take Grey Matter and Upgrade, mix 'em both and we got an unstoppable tech hybrid." I tried not to laugh like a crazy person.

Omni clicked again, going silent for a moment. "What a fascinating idea. Here's a proposal, User. In cases of extreme emergency, you'll have unlimited access to my functions until the situation is dealt with." The dial spun again. "In return for that function, I will put your fusion idea through some computations to see if it is even possible and feasible with my current abilities. PROJECT D.N.A.C underway. Going into standby mode."

I almost started cheering and doing a celebration dance on the table, the wide smile on my face not going unnoticed by Gwen. "Sooo…. Fusions, huh? Clever." She then gave me a worried look. "Just be careful with that, alright?"

I sat back into my seat, blushing. "I will make no such promises. Kind of hard to do with a piece of alien tech strapped to my wrist."

"Ugh… just…. try not to hurt anyone." Gwen gave me a small smile when I nodded back to her, her eyes going back to her laptop. "Oh, here we go. Looks like Animo was a promising researcher in veternary science. But it turned out he was doing experiments where he was mutating animals. When he didn't win some award, he flipped out." She read out loud to everyone. "Looks like he went missing after that."

"We lost him." Max announced after a moment of silence.

I spoke up, remembering the T-Rex Animo rode in this episode. "Well, he said Washington B.C right? Maybe the Museum of Natural History?"

"Worth a shot." Was all Max said as he kept driving.

A short while later.

"Guess I was right." I said as we all gathered in the hole Animo made to get in the museum, holding up the big feather we found. "Place your bets, I'm gonna say he's gonna bring a dino back to life."

"Pfft! No way, a chocolate bar says he won't." Ben challenged.

"I have to side with super dufus here, he can't be that smart."

Max held up a hand. "Shouldn't we be stopping him?" He told us in exasperation as he led us inside, only to add in to the betting pool. "Five bucks says he can't, he looked a little too crazy to be able to do that."

I smirked at their disbelief. "Whatever you say, I believe he's here to trade his frog for Rexy."

Eventually we found him in the dinosaur section of the museum, much to everyone else's dismay. It seemed as if Animo was just waiting for us by the mammoth, the crazy man just finishing the last touches on his device.

"You are persistent, I hate persistent."

Ben pointed at him as I got the watch ready. "We know about your freakazoid experiments, Doctor Animo, It's over."

Animo smiled evilly at him. "Oh, but it's just begun. You see, I only needed a few components to push my plan into phase two…. Reanimation of dormant cells."

Ben blinked in confusion, to which I sighed. "Bringing back dinos with that fancy gadget of yours? Come on, man! Just into the pet biz! Seriously, you'll become very rich if you can sell dog sized triceratops', heck, I'd even take a little ankylodon!"

Animo gave me a thoughtful look. "Really? People would want that?"

"YES!" I yelled back to him. "Make a zoo with some homemade critters too, if you'd really like! It's just sad seeing potential wasted like this, man." I shook my head sadly.

Gwen stepped forward cautiously giving Animo a gentle smile. "Even after all you did, I think Louise really wants you to do the better thing here." She gave me a meaningful look. "Do you really want to throw away everything for petty revenge? I think it would show the other scientist how much better you are if you just stop right now and do what Louise says."

Animo scratched his chin in thought, smirking some as he thought about it. "Hmmm… The proceeds of your idea could help further my research…. That isn't all too bad an idea."

"I know!" I yelled at him again. "It's much better than me having to fight dinosaurs in a museum…." I muttered under my breath.

"Alright, I'll stop." Animo said after a moment, motioning for all of us to come closer.

I did so without much hesitation, leaving the others behind. "It doesn't take a genius to see that you could make money off some custom pets, eh?" I asked him with a warm smile.

"It only took a child to make me see that." Animo shrugged and knelt down to ruffle my hair a bit with his clawed hand. "Thank you for the better plan to upstage my colleague, Louise."

I waved him off, blushing a little. "Ah, no problemo, doc. Just save an Ankylo for me okay? Those things are just adorable."

"I don't see why not." Animo chuckled for the first time, lifting me up and climbing up onto the nearby mammoth. "Come on, Louise's family, let's leave this place in style!"

At my encouraging look, Ben and Gwen climbed onto the Mammoth's back without much hesitation at knowing what's about to happen. Max just stood off to the side, ready to follow us with a smile on his face. "I can't climb too well, kids. I'll just be behind you."

Animo laughed and turned the dial for his device, the horns on his helmet sparking to life and enveloping the mammoth, the beast breathing it's first breath in forever. "Onward Beast!"

A little bit later.

As we all waved goodbye to Animo, the madman riding his new mammoth down the road with a mutated bird and frog following him, I realized something. "We just helped a scientist bring a fossil to life and then steal the thing." I noted out loud, earning an annoyed look from Gwen and Max once I pointed it out. "What? I'm just saying that what we just did wasn't exactly legal, as awesome as it was. We… should get outta here."

We all piled into the Rustbucket and drove away as fast as we could, seeing some police cars come speeding past us once we got a safe distance away. Max gave me a hard look from the driver's seat.

"So, what should you do the next time?" He calmly asked me.

I nervously scratched my arm. "Make sure the bad guy turned good guy doesn't inadvertently steal something priceless?"

Max hummed and nodded. "That would be smart."

I then crossed my arms and gave him a look. "I didn't hear you saying anything about it."

"Hey, he was riding a three ton ancient dinosaur, what could I have done?" Max defended himself.

"Uh, say something? He could've listened."

Gwen intervened, smiling widely. "Hey, no fighting. We just stopped a scientist from taking revenge with a dinosaur. Louise even got him into the exotic pet business. I think that allows her a few mistakes on her second day of heroing."

Max sighed in defeat. "Fine, but she isn't getting the five dollars from the bet from me."

I slumped into my seat. "Fine."

Gwen put her hand on my shoulder, smiling widely at me. "Hey, you stopped the bad guy without even fighting him back there. I think you did amazingly well."

Ben groaned from in front. "Couldn't you just have thrown down with the mammoth? I guess a mammoth ride made up for it." He grumbled a little. "Would've been awesome to see an alien fight a dinosaur."

"Of course that doof would've been upset at the nonviolent way you dealt with that." Gwen shook her head.

After an awkward silence, everyone's stomach growled at the same time. "So, Louise what are you gonna whip up tonight?" Max asked.

I got up out of my seat and started digging through the freezer. "Well, we got some….. Blood sausage, more sheep's tongue, then there's….. bull penis? really?"

Max blinked in surprise. "I still had that?"

"EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!" Both Gwen and Ben groaned at the same time, making me laugh.

"Oh, don't be like that. It is considered a delicacy in… I wanna say Japan. Some places sell it on skewers and stuff." I informed them with a teasing smile, enjoying how Ben actually fainted at the word 'skewer.'

"That's gross, Louise." Gwen gagged a little at the idea of eating it.

"Hey, don't blame me, blame Animo. He's the reason we are stuck eating Max's weird food."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hi guys, just a little note here. I'm using the app and I have a kinda crappy tablet that I'm doing this on…. Uh, well, just leave a review.

It's been about a week since I found myself as a little girl in the Ben 10 universe, the Tennyson trio making my stay here somewhat easier. Max even bought me some clothes so I wouldn't have to share with the little wardrobe Gwen brought with her, making Ben clear out a space in the abysmal closet the Rustbucket has. I really wish Max let me pick the clothes though, he tried to surprise me the other day by doing the shopping while I napped, taking Gwen to help and waking me up with several bags filled with skirts, shirts, dresses and shoes.

I only thanked them and put a purple sundress on, matching it with black flip flops and internally crying over the loss of my masculinity. Stepping out of the bathroom, I shyly scratched my arm as Gwen's eyes met mine. "So? What do you think?"

"It suits you more than what I had you wearing." Gwen told me with a smile, reaching behind her for something. "But I think it's missing something." She said as she held out something very familiar. "Here, I found this and thought of you."

I took it from her and examined it briefly, then wrapping her in a hug. "My hat! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Gwen pat my back. "I knew that you'd love it. You mentioned that you had a hat like that, so when I saw it there…." She shrugged helplessly in my embrace. "Now put it on! Gotta make sure it fits."

I sniffled a little and put my hat on, almost sighing at how familiar it felt on my head. "Again, thanks, Gwen. You have no idea how much this means to me."

She blushed a little. "W-Well, consider this as thanks for rescuing me. That thing was more expensive than what grandpa wanted to pay for it, I had to beg!"

Ben snorted from his seat. "Gwen begging? As if!"

"Shut it, dweeb!"

"Hey, kids! We're here!" Max announced as he parked the RV at the campgrounds.

Later that night…..

Gwen and I watched as Ben cannonballed into the lake from the dock, the boy cheering for himself like a happy idiot.

Gwen huffs at his dumb little show. "A perfect dweeb is more like it."

"He ain't that bad." I tried to defend him.

Ben smiled at us from the water. "Come on, hop right in! The water's fine!"

"No, who knows what nasty things are swimming around in there." Gwen declined smiling when she pointed her flashlight at him. "See? My point exactly."

He frowned at her and gave me a look. "Sorry, bud, I'm not swimming in that nasty water. Do not feel like pulling leeches off me tonight." I told him with a shrug. "Why do you think I've been avoiding the water?"

Ben smirked and splashed us. "What's the point of camping near a lake if you're afraid to get wet?"

We both flinched at the cold spray. "Ah! Knock it off, midget!" Gwen yelled at him and started to walk away. "Not cool, dude." I shook my head at him, trying to decide whether to go alien to get some revenge.

Then he started to fall under the water. "Whats? Happen-ah!" He yelled and went under the water, making Gwen rush back to me to see what's happening.

"Very funny, Ben! Louise and I aren't falling for it!" She yelled at the water.

When he didn't pop back up above the water, I started to fiddle with the watch. "He might have got his foot stuck on something. One moment, I think I got a swimmer in here."

Gwen kept staring at the water. "Ben?"

It was then a muck covered form erupted from the shallow end next to the dock, roaring at us. I jumped a little in fear and fell on my but, Gwen screaming and going to my side as I pushed down the dial to the omnitrix.

In a flash, I had turned into Ditto again, this time it having some sort of alien animal ear hat on, my short form splitting into eight copies of myself and standing defensively as the muck covered monster climbed ominously up onto the dock, growling at us……

It then broke down laughing, some of the green slime falling off its face, revealing the none too sorry face of Ben. Gwen and I glared at him, one of me going over to give him a good lesson to not prank the girl with the watch, only to be held back by another me.

"You should've seen the looks on your faces! Priceless!" He kept laughing, scraping the muck off.

"You are so busted when I tell grandpa!" Gwen glowered at her cousin, grabbing one of my clones and walking away with it. "Come on, Louise. You can have the other… you's deal with him."

"Yeah, he can get kinda annoying, I guess." The me replied to Gwen as they walked off. "But… Wanna play? This form makes me wanna play something, like, all the time."

Gwen's laugh was the last thing we heard from them once they got out of earshot, leaving seven of me standing and glaring at Ben.

"I can't believe you both fell for that. A monster in the lake, how dumb do you have to be?" Ben asked with a laugh.

The me on the far left shook my head. "You are hanging out with a girl that just transformed into an alien that can clone itself. Anything's possible."

Then Ben's face turned pale and he slowly pointed behind me. All of me slowly turned around and was met with the face of some kind of alien water dinosaur, the two muscled tendrils coming from it's mouth hanging threateningly in front of two of me's faces.

"Ben….. I blame you." One of me spoke up, not taking her eyes off the creature. "Now, slowly back away. We got this." Another me told the boy, seeing as the monster had its attention on me.

Ben nodded and slowly crept away, only for a wooden board to creak under his weight, making all of us flinch at the sudden noise. The monster roared and grabbed two of me with each of its tendrils, throwing them far into the lake and smashing the dock with a paw.

Ben was safely out of range by the time the monster attacked, leaving only the now growing army of ditto me's to deal with it. I kept splitting and making more of me, until I had thirty of me to attack with.

The monster blinked at all of me in surprise as we all rushed it, punching and kicking everything we could as we climbed onto its body. It roared and dove into the water, knocking a quarter of me off it as we kept punching and kicking, even throwing in some bites. The monster kept thrashing about to and fro under the water, slamming its massive body into rocks and eventually scraping most of me off it.

With one last bite, the original me finally drawing blood as we got a mouthful of tough muscle, we detached from it and desperately started to swim to the surface, my large arms acting like big flippers. The monster retreated deeper into the murky lake behind us as we broke the water surface and took greedy breaths, the original me doing her best not to lose the chunk of monster meat in her mouth.

"Looks like this form can swim pretty well!" One of me noted happily, the rest of me merging until there were only two of me left. "It can breathe underwater, too! Didn't know that.

We swam back to the shore and was greeted by a worried Ben. "Are you okay? Did you win? Why is one of you bleeding?" He asked quickly, immediately noticing the original's bloody mouth.

She just coughed and spat the chunk into her hand, grimacing at the irony taste lingering inside her mouth. "I'm not, just took a bit of it with me as proof." She said holding up the piece of monster. "Maybe it could be used to add to my alien list."

"Clever, I didn't even think of that one." The other me nodded in thought, finally merging with the original.

Ben and I ran back to the Rustbucket, a worried Gwen and the other clone of me greeting us there. "What happened to you? This you just started getting phantom pains."

I shrugged and waved my hand. "Oh, you know, the usual. There really is a monster in the lake and it decided that Ditto looked like a good lunch." I held out the monster chunk, smiling victoriously. "I showed it who's higher on the food chain."

Gwen turned a little green. "Did you….?"

I shook my head. "Nah, it swam away. Though not before I took a bite out of it."

I pushed on the omnitrix dial and turned back to normal, feeling a few new bruises form from my encounter with the beast. "Gonna feel this in the morning…. Ouch." Holding my side, I yawned and stepped into the Rustbucket, leaving behind the worried duo. Placing the monster chunk into a baggie and then into the freezer, I went to bed.

The next day…..

"I'll deal with it when it shows up again, Ben. I'm not about to just jump in the water to fight a lake monster."

Ben huffed as he gave me a look, Max giving him a stern look. "It's not like she knows where it lives, Ben."

Gwen crossed her arms. "Yeah, that watch can't just magically find that thing's home."

I put a hand to my chin, remembering something. "Actually, I could, if I actually knew how to do the spell." I said thoughtfully, only to gain everyone's attention. "Uh, what is it?" I asked after a moment, realizing that everyone stopped to look at me. "Oh…. did I say that out loud?"

"You did. Is there anything you'd like to tell us?" Gwen asked, raising a brow.

I coughed and looked away, scratching my arm. "So, uh, I found out something just before that Animo incident…. I'm not totally human." I reluctantly explained, holding up my omnitrix arm and gesturing toward it. "Omni told me that I'm an Anodite, basically a being made of magic."

Ben smiled widely. "So that means you're basically in alien mode all the time?"

"I guess?" I shrugged. "Though, I have zero idea how to use mana at the moment. I'm probably gonna practice in the RV later."

"Oh, no you're not." Max told me. "No practicing magic in the Rustbucket. I don't need you breaking anything."

"Fine, when we're parked somewhere." I promised, blushing a little. "Now how about that fishing trip you were talking about?"

After a few minutes of walking, we finally found the boat Max chartered, a grumpy looking man setting things up on it. Ben checked out a nearby bucket and shoved a fistfull of wriggling worms in both Gwen and I's direction, earning a disgusted look from me and a scream from his cousin.

"Ugh, Ben, Gross!" She yelled, then cautiously gave Max a look. "What's with the bucket of slimeys?"

Max smiled. "Bait."

Gwen then crossed her arms. "Yeah, I'm gonna pass on the fishing thing. I'm gonna stay here and catch some sun instead."

I nodded, eyeing the bucket with distaste. "Uh, me too, sorry guys. I'm not a fan of touching something squirming and impaling it on a hook." I told them and turned around, walking away with Gwen following close behind.

"You don't know what you're missing." Max told us.

"I'm pretty sure we do. Have fun." I replied as Gwen and I walked away, throwing him a wave from over my shoulder. "See ya when you get back."

We both managed to weave our way through the crowd of other campers, managing to find a bench to sit on.

Gwen sighed, relaxing in the sunlight. "So, how're you liking the trip so far?"

I shrugged and looked out towards the lake. "It's been fun. It's nice to feel normal, despite having this strapped to me." I informed with a small smile, holding up my omnitrix arm. "It can be pretty overwhelming at times. Ben doesn't make it much easier for me."

Gwen frowned and gently grabbed my hand, pulling it closer to herself and idly stroking the omnitrix with her other hand. "It has to be…." She thoughtfully trailed off, shaking her head. "So, how does it feel? Turning into aliens?"

Blushing at how she kept her hold on my arm, I coughed. "It's like…. I become a different person each time I go alien. You've seen what Ditto does to me, she makes me all hyper and stuff." I shrugged. "Luckily for me, it seems like I can do my alien power stuff instinctually."

"So what happens it you get a violent one?" Gwen asked giving me a worried look.

The omnitrix whirred to life. "She won't hurt anyone she doesn't want to. My creator was very careful in designing the omnitrix."

"See? Even if I seem dangerous, I'm still me underneath the alien." I assured her with a big smile, then looked down at the watch. "Hey, can I have a few new aliens unlocked? I'm not asking for anything too crazy, like a giant planet destroyer."

Omni's dial flickered and spun a few degrees. "I suppose you can, seeing as you have done some good with the omnitrix." It clicked and spun. "Five species are now unlocked for your use."

Gwen snickered at my wide smile. "So, what did you unlock for her?" She asked Omni.

"The unlocked species are as follows…. Symphonian, Smogosapien, Chemikusian, Marrosian, and Fungal Fatalis." Omni rattled off. "As the both of you are unaware of what those are, I'll elaborate. The Symphonian are known as the divas of the universe, using their beautifully hypnotic music to make a living as high demand musicians. Note: Don't ever make one mad. The music of theirs can also be used as an effective means of attack."

Gwen smirked at me. "So, you have a musical alien. I'll keep that in mind the next time Grandpa decides to try and make us all sing along to a song of his."

I smacked her arm playfully and continued to listen. "Smogosapiens are beings comprised of a highly toxic gas. Highly mysterious, they hardly ever leave their homeworld. However, when one does, it has to wear a very durable containment suit to have any semblance of physical form. Hmmm, odd, looks like my creator only obtained the DNA only by accident. He has no clue what this form can do."

"I like a good mystery." I laughed at how stumped the A.I seemed. "Let's give it a try in a bit."

"Agreed, we must gather more information on this species." Omni agreed with me. "Moving on…. The Chemikusian, AKA The Chemists. Chemikusians are humanoid Avians that have modified their own bodies so much that they're able to synthesize and distribute any kind of chemical, solvent, acid, etc, from special organs implanted into their wrists and shoulders." Omni explained. "You should become an instant medical professional when you turn into this. I have noticed that you have nothing that can heal unlocked, so I took the liberty to give you this one."

"And I thank you for that. It'll come in handy." I rubbed the omnitrix with my thumb, earning a whirr in response.

"Yeah, good thinking." Gwen smiled. "Good to have a instant doctor on hand."

"Next is the Marrosian, one the few odd entries from an asteroid belt on the edge of the anur system. Living, yet somehow dead, this humanoid skeleton can fall apart and rebuild itself in an instant. It likes to live in the darkest parts of the planet, seeming to feed on the dark. If it can't find darkness, it can make it."

"Sooooo…. nightmare alien?"

"If you wish to call it that, then yes." Omni blipped.

"Lastly is the Fungal Fatalis." Omni blinked and spun. "Similar to your planet's Cordyceps fungus, It is a recently sentient fungus that grew on the harsh conditions of Malchior XVII. It is among the oldest species in the universe, rivaling that of the Segmentasapien. It is due to a recent failed attempt from the Cerebrocrustaceans to eradicate the infestation that helped bring them to sentience, turning the parasitic mass into benevolent symbiotic humanoids." Omni's lights flickered. "They are essentially organic versions of the Galvanic Mechamorph, the form you call Upgrade."

I blinked. "Well, that one sounds like it's kinda overkill…. and dangerous."

"All my records of the Fungal Fatalis show that they are quite pacifistic." Omni assured her voice turning into a slight deadpan. "Now, I'm going back to standby mode. The fusion project is only 2% complete." She told us, the omnitrix's lights dimming.

Gwen nudged my shoulder, getting up from her seat. "Well, as fun as it is to learn about some aliens, how about we relax on the end of the dock? Maybe we could see some fish."

"I don't see why not." I smiled at her and got up to follow her, Gwen abruptly taking my hand and leading the way, blushing like mad as my belly filled with butterflies.

She led me to the end and practically dragged me down to sit down next to her, my hand never leaving hers. "It's a nice day." She sighed and put her head on my shoulder, relaxing and slowly rocking her legs off the edge of the dock. "It's even better without my doofus cousin here to annoy us."

I gulped and kept staring out at the water, trying to keep calm. "Y-Yeah, It's nice to be somewhere quiet. Ben can't be quiet if his life depended on it." I took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm the butterflies. "I like hanging out with you." My mouth moved before I could stop myself.

Gwen giggled the noise making my face feel like it started to go supernova. "I like hanging out with you, too. I'm happy that there's another girl on this trip with me." She admitted. "Without you, I'd be stuck with just my monkey of a cousin."

I chuckled at the apt description. "Yeah, he's a bit of a moron. But he's not that bad, I think he really means well, in his own way."

Gwen snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it."

Some movement in the water gained my attention, a large shadow rushing towards us. Calmy getting up and looking through the omnitrix, I gave Gwen a look. "You might want to run. That water monster wants a snack today." I said, nodding towards the growing shape in the water.

Gwen looked surprised and started to back away. "Be careful." Was all she said before she ran off the dock, leaving me to deal with the monster.

I spun the dial a few times and settled on one of my new forms, the genie-like silhouette being the last thing I saw as I pressed it down and transformed in a flash. A short, black and purple alien taking my place. I looked at my handless arms, three black bands wrapping tightly on the robe-like appendage, the end of it flapping like an empty sleeve. I realized that I had no mouth in this form once I tried to talk.

I looked at the monster, it almost upon me, and jumped. The bands on my arms loosened and let black smoke flow out, making me fly in the beast's direction. Once I got near, it erupted from the water and roared at me, swinging a tendril at me. To me, the attack seemed to be in slow motion as I dodged it instantly, spinning around in the air to kick it in the snout.

It roared again and tried to attack me again, receiving another kick and a faceful of smoke, making it start choking from the toxic fumes. It whimpered and dove back under, swimming just below the surface toward the one boat that started to speed away, only for the monster to resurface and attack it. I rocketed towards the scene and sprayed a cloud of smoke, enveloping the attacking beast and forcing it under the water.

I landed on the deck of the boat, calling back the smoke into my arms with one wave of an arm and joined the oddly familiar men to peek at the water. Another roar rang out from behind me, the monster having came up from below, ripping away the tarp covering a crate and grabbing it with it's tendrils.

One man ran past me and leaped onto the crate, fighting the monster for it. Having an idea, I strode towards the man and ripped him off the thing with my arms and throwing him back, careful to make sure that the flowing smoke won't go into the guy's lungs. The beast took the crate and dove back underwater, not coming back up after a few moments of waiting.

The man glared at me. "You let it take it!"

I tilted my head in confusion and gave him a look.

He seemed to get what I was asking. "It was our lunch!"

Blinking once, I just shook my head and flew away, back towards the now empty dock.. Once I landed, Gwen ran up and stopped at a safe distance from me, wary of the smoke. I couldn't say anything, wordlessly retreating my smoke into my body and blinking at her, feeling odd in this form.

Gwen finally got close to me and tentatively placed her hand on my cheek. "I'm guessing this is the new smoke alien?" At my nod, she smirked. "Since Ben named the others, I'm naming this one…. Toxica."

I closed my eyes and leaned into her touch, a small part of me screaming in the back of my mind as my body pulled her into a hug. Gwen giggled and hugged me back, not noticing the smoke that came out of my arms behind her, it shaping into a black heart. The omnitrix chose at this point to time out, turning me back to normal. I quickly backed away from her, blushing madly and stammering.

"Heh, it looks like Toxica likes me." Gwen smirked at me.

The Tennysons and I sat around the campfire that night, talking about the Kraken and the odd ship captain, Shaw. This whole situation seemed a little familiar, ringing a bell in my head. Humming, I scratched my chin, trying to remember anything. I gave up and went back to trying to practice some magic as the Tennysons talked.

Max was seated next to me. "We'd probably best leave this to the experts."

Ben frowned at Max and pointed at me. "The experts? Who better to deal with a monster than the girl with a monster buster on her wrist?"

"He does make a fair point. What kind of expert can deal with that water dragon thing?" I pointed out the lake, a tiny purple spark coming off my index finger at the action. "Step one down……." I smiled, blowing on my finger.

Gwen grinned at the show of progress. "Do you think I could do that?" She curiously asked, pointing at the now steady stream of sparks coming from my index finger.

I shrugged, remembering her future magical exploits. "Totally, if you got, as the Anodites call it, the 'spark'." I stopped with the spark show. "I'm by no means an expert in this stuff, so if you want to practice, just be careful."

Max smiled thankfully at my warning. "I don't want anyone hurt practicing magic. So if you have to, do it supervised by Louise."

"Way to pile some more stress on me, Max. Gotta worry about trying to teach magic, when I have no clue how to use mine. On top of that, I gotta deal with an alien warlord out for the piece of alien tech on my wrist." I gave him a look, then deflated at his stern glare. "Okay, okay, my fault for giving her the idea. Got it."

A grump looking old man came up from somewhere, griping loudly. "No good fish kissers!"

All of us turned to look at him. "Captain Shaw? What's going on?"

Shaw angrily waved at the lake. "Those no good enviro-punks closed down the entire lake!" He practically growled. "Nobody tells me where to fish! And nobody is going to keep me from the catch of the century!" He told nobody in particular, wandering off towards the docks.

At his little display, I clapped my hands together and got up. "Welp, someone's gotta make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." I announced and started to walk in the direction Shaw went, only to be stopped by Max's firm hand. "What?"

"Those Friends of Fish guys seem to have the situation handled, Louise." Max told me. "They can deal with one crazy captain."

I gave him a disbelieving look. "Really? The fish guys? Yeah, they're totally handling that water monster, not doing anything while I was fighting it was a great plan." I drawled, pulling myself out of his grip. "Look, I get it, but I'm going to deal with this whole mess. Gwen, if you could, please look up some details on these Friends of Fish guys. I have never heard of them."

Running away, I caught up with Shaw, the man about halfway to the docks. "Hey, you want help looking for the Kraken?" I smirked and gave him a salute. "First mate Louise reporting for duty, if you'd let me."

Shaw gave me a long look before grunting and motioning for me to follow, letting me on his old ship. We both rode the boat deeper into the lake, no words traded between us as he kept an eye on his sonar equipment. Eventually, we got to around the middle of the lake, Shaw stopping his boat and pulling out some scuba gear.

"There's no way you're going down there alone." I deadpanned, finding a set I could put on under a nearby tarp.

Shaw pulled it out of my arms and grunted, dumping the stuff inside a crate. "I may be crazy, but I won't let a child be attacked by the Kraken. I only have one of these babies." He denied me, pulling out his harpoon gun. "There's a flare gun in the toolbox over there." He informed and put on his scuba helmet. "Use it if you get in trouble. Wish me luck." He smirked at my unamused look and dove into the water, leaving me alone on the deck of his ship.

"Don't haunt me if you get eaten!" I futility yelled after him, sighing a moment later and sitting down. "Dumb, crazy asshole." I muttered and pressed a button on the omnitrix, the dial popping up and showing the silhouette of Heatblast.

As I was looking through the omnitrix, a fancier looking speedboat zoomed up next to Shaw's boat, the machine gun mounted on its nose not really inspiring any confidence. As three heavily armed men climbed on deck, I hurriedly pressed down on the omnitrix's dial.

My body seemed to vaporize on the spot, a slender woman wrapped in a grey cloak taking my place, the cloak looking more like a piece of bondage gettup than anything. She floated off the ground, her legs coming together into a grey wisp at the bottom. Black lines criss-crossed up and down the grey robe wrapping her hourglass figure, only revealing a single, massive, purple eye.

A sinister chuckle came from me, suddenly feeling sadistic. "Hehehehe…. Time to get a little….. freaky." My velvety voice came out in a husky whisper, my form vanishing from sight.

"What was that flash?" One man asked as the three masked men climbed onto the deck of the ship.

"Maybe something broke? Doesn't matter, an idiot decided to go night diving." The obvious leader of the group told the two men. "He might be 'lost at sea' tonight."

It was at this point Shaw came back, climbing up the ladder. Two goons grabbed him and threw him onto deck, the leader strolling up to him threateningly.

"Don't you know how dangerous it is to be night fishing, old timer? Unless, of course, you went with a friend." The leader asked Shaw as he pulled off his mask.

"I work alone. I ain't got no friends." Shaw glared at the man, his eyes curiously looking about for me.

The man laughed as his two goons grabbed Shaw, holding his arms behind his back. "And with a sparkling personality…."

"I ain't got nothing worth stealing either." Shaw told him, struggling against the men.

"Oh, I don't want to steal from you… I want information…." The leader slowly said, grabbing Shaw by the front of his dive suit. "Like what did you see down there?"

Shaw looked impassive. "Nothin', like always."

The leader suddenly punched him in the face, sending him back down on the deck, unconscious. The leader pulled off his mask, revealing his face to everyone. I immediately recognized him as the man who tried to protect his so called 'lunch.'

"Well, I have to make sure." He ominously said, spurring me into action.

I invisibly floated in between the men once the two goons picked Shaw up, becoming visible a moment later. "Naughty~!" I sang, scaring the shit out of all of them. "What? You don't like me, boys?"

The men dropped Shaw and pulled out some firearms, shaking as they pointed them in my direction. I shook my 'head', narrowing my eye at the man closest to me. "Do you really want to mess with me, hun? I may not be too kind if that doesn't hurt me." I asked him, earning a frightened shriek as he unloaded an entire clip in my face, the bullets harmlessly passing through me. "That tickled…. HahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" My insane laughter echoed across the water, my cloaked fist slamming into my attacker's face and knocking him unconscious.

"It's a monster!" The other goon screamed and tried to dive into the water, only to be caught by me and thrown back onto the deck of the boat. "AAAAHHHH! Hel-!" He tried to scream, only to be cut off by my fist colliding with his throat, turning his scream into a weak gurgle. He was then knocked out by another punch, this one stronger than the others, a sickening crack echoing across the lake as the poor man's eyes rolled up and he fell over.

The leader and I stared at each other, my hands grasping my grey robes. "Well, honey, what's your plan to deal with me?" I seductively husked in his direction, placing a grey finger where my mouth would be. "I may just break you, hun. I'm all cold and bothered… I think I'll take your soul! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" I giggled maniacally, ripping away some strips of my robes, revealing the horror beneath.

My robes turned darker as my disfigured face smiled evilly at him, one eye missing and face framed by black and white tentacles. The claws of my hands tore right through the parts of robe covering them, revealing the long black sickles underneath.

The leader gasped and ran towards his boat, throwing some kind of satchel onto the deck as he leapt onto his boat. A moment later, Shaw's boat exploded, sending me careening into the water from the force, landing in front of the bad guy's boat. The leader started his boat and drove it into my face, throwing a device into the water as he ran me over.

Within moments, the leader got out of sight, the dark boat fading into the darkness with ease. Rubbing my head, I floated out of the water, going towards the wreckage and looking to see if Shaw survived. I found the man floating on a piece of wood still floating on the surface of the water, a piece of one of the minion's arm next to him.

With a grunt, I picked a barely breathing Shaw up with my clawed hands, revealing the bacon strips his legs became. The bleeding appeared to have been stopped as quickly as it began by the sheer amount of burns, my single eye narrowing at the crippling injury. Floating as fast as I could, my alien form reached the Rustbucket in record time.

"Hey, Louis- OHMYGOD!" Gwen screamed once she saw me, making my alien body flinch back in surprise. "What happened?!"

"Everyone, back away! Give them space!" Max commanded his grandchildren, ushering them a safe distance away from me.

I didn't say anything, carefully placing Shaw on the ground, pushing the omnitrix once and transforming into something else. A giant, wingless owl girl took the phantom's place, white feathers covering every inch of her slim, business suit covered body. Two cybernetic lenses that came out from the side of her head covered her eyes, some information flashing over them as she appraised her patient.

"Ze patient iz in trouble. Pleaze hold zhe queztionz until I'm vinished." I informed, my voice taking a german accent. "Hmmm… Zhird degree burnz on half his legs, a few first degree burnz here an' zhere….Pozzibly a concuzzion, too."

My wrists bulged and my clawed fingers started dripping a clear liquid. "A vew milligramz of thiz should do zhe trick." Was all I said, gently pushing a claw into each of Shaw's crispy legs, making sure the liquid didn't seep through the charred skin, it immediately getting to work on reversing the damage. "Mr. Tennyzon, pleaze wrap hiz legz in zomething. Hiz body should recover enough vor him to valk in 9.8 Earth hourz." I urgently advised, Max and Gwen dashing into the RV to grab towels or something.

It took a little while, but with my newfound medical expertise, we managed to wrap up Shaw's legs in a few towels, with me adding in some paste that seeped through my palms as an extra thing to make his legs numb in case he regained consciousness. Omni kept me in my new form, seeing as I needed my new form's expertise.

"And zhats how I got here with Shaw. Zhat man didn't care at all vor hiz men, only vor zomething in zhe lake." I finished explaining from my seat next to the fisherman.

"Did he look like this?" Gwen asked me, showing me an article on her laptop.

Seeing the face, I nodded, scratching my chin with a claw. "Jonah Melville, zhat iz him. Any clue az to where he iz bazed here?"

Gwen frowned, tapping a few keys on her laptop. "It doesn't say. Hmmm……"

"He'z probably got a zpot with eazy aczesz to zhe lake. I'll juzt turn into one of mein hunter aliens, I've been looking to try out one in particular." I shrugged, a smirk on my beak. "I'll be back onze zhis Jonah individual iz taken care ov." I announced, getting up and reaching into one of my suit pockets, pulling out a vial and filling it with a green liquid from my claws. "Here, have zhe patient drink thiz iv he awakez bevore I return."

Max tried to stop me as I pushed the vial in his hands, only being stopped with a serious look from me. "I can handle the Krakken and Jonah'z group, you three can bring Shaw to zhe hospital, okay?" I insisted. "Az much az I'd like you guyz to azsizt me in my endavor, I don't wish for any ov you to get injured. I do have a vew practically indezructable formz in my repertoire."

Max gave me one long look, before nodding. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan."

Ben finally spoke up. "What!? We don't get to kick any bad guy butt? Come on!"

Gwen gave him a slap on the back of his head. "Oh, shut it, dweeb. We're doing another bit of hero duty, bringing the hurt people to the hospital." She said with a smirk at me. "Go get 'em, my hero."

Ben groaned. "But I want to go with her!"

Max and I started to lift Shaw up, carefully placing him down on a seat in the Rustbucket. A few minutes later, the Tennysons left the campsite, leaving me behind. I took a deep breath and pushed the omnitrix emblem on my waist, turning into a lithe armored alien woman in a flash of light.

She was covered in a light purple armor, absolutely no skin showing anywhere. Her generous chest and hourglass figure made it apparent that she was female under the futuristic armor. The visor on her helmet is only a thin vertical strip down the middle of it, a dim pink light glowing from within.

I growled and activated my jetpack, flying upwards and towards where I last saw Jonah, the light behind my visor turning green. Once I got there, I hovered over the water for a moment, my third hand coming out of the small compartment on my right shoulder and reaching for a disk on my jetpack. I threw it, the disk morphing midair and floating just above the water, a slight buzzing noise coming from it. Slowly, but surely, a faint trail formed in the water, leading to somewhere.

I followed the trail, the disk leading me to a dock connected to a warehouse, some armed men wandering to and fro. I snarled and called the disk back, my right arm turning into a sleek purple rifle barrel, its end glowing a sickly yellow. Instinctively, I went invisible, quietly landing on the roof of the warehouse. Observing the situation, one of the men carrying a leathery egg the size of a big dog.

Jonah yelled at the nameless underling, the poor man almost dropping the egg. "Watch it! You almost made the most expensive omelet in the world!" He ripped the egg out of the man's arms, placing the egg in a nearby cylinder with another egg in it. "These should make all of us filthy rich."

Piecing the the Krakken's anger and the eggs together, I leaped off the roof and landed silently next to the cylinder after the men left it alone, cautiously pulling the thing to the edge of the dock. I got about halfway before one of the men noticed the thing moving seemingly by itself, curiously coming over to check it out.

"Hmm?" He hummed, walking around the cylinder before shrugging and grabbing the handle attached near the bottom of the thing and pulling.

I looked around the dock once more, seeing Jonah off to the side chatting with three other goons. Not dropping my cloak, I zipped around the cylinder and punched the man in the throat, picked him up and threw him off the dock in one quick movement, the only noise made was a gurgle and a splash. Unluckily, Jonah and his men heard that, pointing their guns in my direction.

Jonah made a motion to his men, then jumped into the weird water suit mech thing, somehow controlling the crane suspending it. Even more unfortunate, the Krakken decided to show her face, apparently having ate the poor sap I chucked down there, fresh blood caking her face.

Seeing as the element of surprise was essentially fucked, I dropped my cloak, firing a few sparking rounds at the men and pulling the eggs over to their mama, the two nameless goons screaming out in pain then dropping unconscious. The Krakken took one look at me and grabbed the cylinder holding the eggs, diving back into the water with her eggs.

I took a shot at the suit Jonah wore, the short beams not doing anything but spark off the metal, Jonah's laugh coming from within it. The crane moved sharply to the side, dropping Jonah into the water, his metal suit zooming off under the water. With an angry snarl, I tapped the omnitrix logo on my left shoulder, turning into a fish woman with a large tooth filled maw and jumping into the water.

My skirt came together and formed a fin around my two legs, enabling me to zoom after Jonah at an extreme speed. It wasn't long until I found him, two eggs in his arms as the Krakken held its head between its hands, an ear splitting noise coming from Jonah's suit. Suppressing a shudder, I tackled him, ripping his arms off the eggs and taking them in my mouth, having to stretch my new jaws to their widest to hold them. Throwing one punch to his dome covered head, cracking the thick glass under the force, I swam away from him.

The Krakken and Jonah chased me through the lake for what felt like an eternity, coming very close to hitting me a couple of times as I hunted for Mama Krakken's nest, eventually coming across a circular pile of wood and muck. As fast as I could, I placed the eggs there, Mama Krakken immediately ignoring me and protectively curling up against her children.

Jonah, who was last in the little chase for the eggs, came speeding in from above, Mama Krakken catching his mech suit by its head and chomping down on it. How the dumbass didn't die immediately, I will never know, but he somehow survived that without injury and suddenly found himself in water, in the dark, a giant pissed off water monster not twenty feet away from him.

What he did next baffled me, he didn't swim as fast as he could away, no…..

He tried to STAB her in the face with his tiny knife….. only to fail miserably as the blade broke in two upon contact with her snout. Needless to say mama didn't take to kindly to that and tried to eat him, only for me to intervene and stop her from doing so. She just stared me down and then happily returned to her eggs, leaving me with Jonah.

I slowly turned around and gave him a look, the idiot actually shrugging at me with his best "What can I say?" face. I just grabbed him by the scruff of his wetsuit and drug him back to the warehouse, doing quite a few dolphin jumps along the way. Swimming onto the shore with a now partially drowned Jonah, I dragged him a good thirty feet and dropped him onto the road like a discarded sack of potatoes.

I heard sirens steadily getting closer to us, so I jumped back into the water, speeding back towards the camp. I just reverted back to being me and just waited a little while, keeping entertained with some sparks from my fingers.

After about an hour, the Rustbucket pulled up next to me, Gwen the first one out to greet me with a prompt glomping. My face was probably red by the time Ben and Max exited, all of them smiling at a job well done.

"So… How's Shaw?" I curiously asked once we all sat down at the newly made campfire, roasting a marshmallow on a stick.

Max smirked. "He's going to be just fine, thanks to you. The doctors said he's going to make a full recovery and to thank the person that helped wrap his legs."

"Good, good, I was kinda worried there." I shrugged, staring into the flame for a moment.

Ben inched closer to me, smiling widely. "Have you named the bird alien?"

Knowing where he was headed, I shook my head with a sigh and a equal smile. "Not yet, why do you ask, bud?"

"How about…. Nurse Hoot?" Ben suggested, making me groan at how bad this one was.

"That's… pretty terrible." I pointed out, then sighed pulling my marshmallow out of the fire and blowing the little flames off it. "I guess it'll do until I come up with something else."

Gwen suddenly gasped in realization, then ran into the RV, coming back out with the baggie of Krakken meat. "You said you could use this to add to your alien list, right?"

I took the bag out of her hands, putting my cooled gooey marshmallow in my mouth and nodding. "Yup." Swallowing my marshmallow, I popped the dial of the omnitrix up. "Activate capture mode."

The lights on the omnitrix turned yellow and the dial spun, a yellow beam scanning the meat through the bag. "Scanning….. Scanning….. Scan complete. New DNA unlocked and available for use." Omni spoke, the omnitrix lights turning back to their pink. "Careful when using this form on land, user. It requires a generous amount of water to survive." She informed, then went back to rest mode

I smiled even wider at the news. "Neat. Before you say anything, Ben. This one is just gonna be called Kraken, 'kay? Simple, but fear inspiring." I insisted with a grin, Ben nodding at my serious tone

Gwen giggled at me, patting me on the back. "Sounds good, Louise. Just be careful, remember?"

My face turned red again as I giggled with her. "There will be no promises. Let's just hope the next place we go to will be normal."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hello again, guys. Just saying a little hello…. Oh, I kinda forgot to say this earlier, all the alien forms affect Louise's personality in different ways, not just the select few that messed with Ben when he had the omnitrix, like Rath. (Who may or may not make her debut in the next chapter...) ;) Looking through this chapter, I have to say that I didn't really like how I did with this one…. Might have been why I took so long with adding it. Meh, the next one should be up in a month or two. P.S. For those of you reading Equinox: the unusual lantern…. I put up a poll at the end of the last chapter there, it was kinda last minute I put it up, but I don't think one of my readers saw it. I put it up as he was reading…. (That's you! Blank-name26! Seriously, I like that you put up a review on each chapter.)

"So? An ice cream place in the middle of nowhere?" I curiously asked, panting a little in the dry desert heat. "Really? Not that I'm complaining, but who opens one out here?"

Max smiled at me. "It's nice, isn't it? Why don't the three of you go on inside, I just got to make a withdrawal from the ATM over there."

Ben practically teleported past us and was already inside, leaving Gwen and I to share a look at his behavior and hurry after him. We joined him at the glass counter, looking at all the different flavors displayed inside. A sour faced man came up behind the counter, his arms crossed as he stared us down.

Gwen looked up at him with a smile. "What do you have that's nonfat with less than 3% sugar?"

The man blinked at the question. "Napkins." He grunted and promptly turned to Ben. "What about you, Kid?"

"Chocolate." Ben simply said, smiling widely at the man.

As the man turned to me, I heard a commotion outside. "Make mine a mint chocolate chip, I'll be right back." I placed my order and went outside, seeing two redneck guys trying to rip the ATM out with their truck.

Seeing Max on the ground, I popped up the dial on the omnitrix, gave it a quick spin and pressed down without looking. In a flash of familiar green light, I turned into everyone's favorite fireball, only my flames are blue and my magma-like body a little curvier than the original.

"Hello, boys!" I called out in my new rough tomboyish voice. "How about you two dumbasses stop what you're doing and go back to your brother-dad and sister-mom?"

The big one, whom I'm gonna call Gus, promptly ripped his tow chain hook off out of the ATM apparently thinking he can take on the being made of fire before him. He swung the chain at me, the hook catching me on my shoulder, only to be melted and drip onto the pavement with a quiet sizzle noise.

I narrowed my eyes at him, my hands turning a bright white as I kicked the heat up a notch, grabbing the chain as it fell and gave it a harsh tug. Gus practically flew towards me, his face meeting with my burning arm in a clothesline and leaving him with a painful burn.

I crossed my arms at the scrawny one, the buck toothed man fearfully eyeing me. "So? What are you gonna do? Run? Sorry, bud." I shook my head and strolled over to the truck, the tires melting, and the roof of it warping just from proximity of me. "Not gonna happen."

He saw the situation he was in and promptly gave up, wordlessly wrapping his own hands up in what was left of the tow chain. Realizing that I should probably stop using the alien fireball, I tapped the Omnitrix on my chest, transforming into Big Chill a moment later.

Turning over to check on Max, he just finished tying up Gus, and gave me a thumbs up. "Good job, Louise. Took them out in record time."

I shrugged and smiled at him, Gwen and Ben finally coming out of the shop, having watched it all from inside. "So….what's….. next?" I asked, something about this situation ringing a bell.

Max looked a little excited. "Well, we're off to see Ben and Gwen's Aunt, Vira."

Ben gasped. "Boring old Aunt Vira?" He dramatically dropped to his knees, throwing his fists up in the air. "NNNNOOOOO!"

 **Later……**

My face collided with the table. "I just wanted my mint-chip….." I bemoaned the lack of ice cream, earning a giggle from Gwen.

"Maybe next time." She assured me as she washed the few dishes leftover from lunch. "When Aunt Vira said she wanted to move away from it all, she really meant it." She pointed out to nobody in particular.

Ben crossed his arms, looking out the window. "Oh, man. This sumer was supposed to be about F.U.N. not about hanging out in some old ladies place."

Gwen looked back in our direction. "I happen to like Aunt Vira."

Ben snorted. "Duh, it's because you act like you're a hundred years old."

"Hey, don't be like that." I said with a small smile. "How often do you even see your Aunt?"

Ben gave me a look. "Not much, why?"

I sat up and returned his look with one of my own. "While you may not like her much… She is still family, and it'll make her day seeing you guys again after however so long it's been since the last time it's been." I sighed, feeling a little sad. "You don't know what you have, until it's gone."

Ben blinked at me. "Oh yeah, that's right. You can't see your family anymore, can you?"

I deadpanned. "Yeah, thanks for bringing that up, buddy."

Ben winced, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry…"

I sighed again, waving him off. "It's fine." I got up and stretched, yawning loudly. "Imma take a nap." I simply announced, going to Gwen and I's bunk.

 **Just a little while later……..**

"Louise, wake up. We're almost there."

I woke up to Gwen shaking my shoulder. I slowly and groggily joined them at the table, rubbing my eyes and yawning. Gwen went back to doing something on her computer and Ben kept complaining about whatever he could about old people.

As I was rubbing my eyes again, Ben said something I didn't catch. Gwen looked up from her computer and out the window, then back to him with an unamused look. "See what? The heat must be frying that pea-sized brain of yours." She told him, then went back to her laptop.

He gave me a look, to which I just yawned. "Didn't see nuthin', showry bud."

Max finally pulled up in front of a house and got out. "We're here!"

I yawned again and got up, still feeling tired, exiting the Rustbucket and leaning up against the side just next to the doorway. "Man, it's hot out…."

Ben was out shortly afterwards. "I know, right? What is up with old people and moving to where it is so hot?"

"They get cold easily. My grandma was always complaining she was cold, even when it was, like, 90 outside." I said with a shrug.

Ben grumbled and went towards his Aunt's home, only to be shot in the back by Gwen, who just got a small squirt gun from somewhere. Ben yelped in surprise and glared at her, only earning a giggle from her as she dashed right past him.

I smiled and went up to him. "I have a good feeling about this place, buddy." I said as I clapped him on the shoulder, my eyes being drawn to the neighbor's window.

The creepy looking old man's face twisted and silently snarled at us, before ripping the blinds closed. Ben and I shared a look. "Yeah, a good feeling….."

Max came up next to us, smiling widely. "Just watch out, Vira's a pincher."

A tall portly woman came out and smiled at all of us, her eyes landing on Max. "Max!"

Max walked up to her with open arms. "Vira!" They both hugged for a bit, then let go.

I stuck back a little ways, shyly trying to stay out of the familial bonding bit as Ben and Gwen joined Max with their Aunt, feeling somewhat like I'm intruding on something personal.

The woman hugged Gwen pinched her cheeks. "I can't believe you're finally here! And look at you two, so grown up!"

"Ouch…." Gwen muttered, not that her Aunt was listening anyways.

Ben rubbed his cheeks after Vira got to him. "Ow…."

"Oh? And who's that cutie?" Vira asked, finally noticing me. "Don't tell me…." She gasped. "Did you adopt her! I knew you wanted to raise another one!"

Max stuttered and stammered not really sure how to respond to that. I just laughed and came up to the group, my shyness replaced by humor. "Nah, I'm one of Gwen's friends from school. Call me Louise, my folks said I can join in on the summer trip."

She just smiled at me and reached out to pinch my cheeks, only for me to dodge under her hands. We both stared each other down for a moment, then she tried again and missed her target, me sidestepping her hands. "Sorry, miss, no pinching me today."

Vira pouted and quickly stood up and clapped her hands together. "Well, nice to meet you. I can't wait to chew the fat with all of you."

We all went inside and I took a seat on a couch as Max and Vira chatted away near the window, Gwen off exploring the home. Ben took a few sniffs and gagged. "Ugh, why does old people's houses always smell like somebody's cooking socks or something?"

I raised a brow at him and shrugged, relaxing into the soft couch with a content sigh. Vira came to me a few minutes later, taking a seat next to me. Curiously, I gave her a glance.

"So, I hear you are quite the chef." Vira started slowly.

"I guess, so?"

Vira gave me a kind smile. "Want to help me cook dinner? I doubt my niece or nephew want to join me in the kitchen."

I returned the smile with my own. "I'd like to."

 **Yet another time skip** ……

I winced at the looks Ben and Gwen gave me as I placed the large cauliflower and pork chop jello mold onto the table. Vira looked proud of our work, while I just shrugged and made my plate.

Max took a bite of his chunk, then smiled at Vira. "This is very good, what are these brown chunks in the mold?"

"Pork chops." I informed, taking a bite of the oddly tasty meal. "The white bits are cauliflower. Not my best work, but Vira insisted."

"None of that, little Missy." Vira scolded with her ever present smile. "My kitchen, my rules." She then turned to Ben, who was eyeing the blob on his place with some amount of disgust. "So, what have you been doing this summer?"

Ben dropped his fork. "Dealing with alien lifeforms."

Vira just kept smiling. "Ohoho, you." She chuckled, missing the sharp look Max and I sent to Ben.

Gwen spotted something on a nearby shelf and got up to get a better look. "Aunt Vira? Is that a stuffed red billed north american chickadee?"

I blinked at the oddly specific question, finishing my plate. Vira got up to join Gwen, her smile seeming to grow larger. "How perceptive, Gwen. Did you know that the call of the red billed north american chickadee is actually…."

"A call indicating alarm or excitement. Brrrrr!" The both said at the same time, imitating what I presume is the call of the bird.

"That is just the cutest thing I've heard all day." I stated with a smirk, making Gwen blush in embarrassment. I noticed Ben not so subtly scraping his portion onto Gwen's plate and gave him a look, him catching my annoyed look and take it back, hesitantly taking a bite as I stared him down.

He practically inhaled his portion once I made the omnitrix visible to him, the dial showing the silhouette of Heatblast. "Ugh…. I'm stuffed."

Vira suddenly came up behind us, a bowl of brown candies in her hand. "Ben, Louise would you like some candy?"

"Thanks." I said, taking one and throwing it into my mouth, letting the gentle coffee flavor chase the odd jello mold taste out of my mouth.

Ben spat his out. "Bleh, coffee? As a candy? Is this some kinda joke?"

"Dude, you're being very rude." I gave him another annoyed glare, shaking my head.

He ran off and disappeared into the bathroom, a locking sound coming from the door. I shared a look with everyone, sighing and taking another coffee candy, liking the taste a little more than I should. It wasn't long before he came back out, smirking some as he approached me once I was left alone at the table.

"Hey, wanna sneak out?" Ben not so subtly gestured to the watch. "Come on, let's have some fun with an alien of yours."

I furrowed my brows, something in the back of my mind ringing as Gwen held up one of Vira's sea shells to her ear. _"Was this an episode?"_ I thought to myself, trying to remember for a moment, then sighing as nothing came to me. "Okay, I guess we can duck out for a few minutes. Let me at least tell Max, 'kay?"

Ben became almost giddy once I agreed. "I'll be waiting out front!"

I snuck up next to Max, tugging on his hawaiian shirt to get his attention. "I'm gonna step out for a bit, do some exploring with Ben."

"Just be back in an hour, Vira wants to watch a movie with everyone." Max looked down to me, giving me a wink. "Keep Ben out of trouble, will you?"

"Got it, have fun." I said as I left, waving over my shoulder.

Ben's evilly grinning face shot up into mine the moment I got outside, the mischievous young boy grabbing the omnitrix strapped to my arm. "H-Hey!" Was all I could say before I was promptly transformed into Ghostfreak, my grey robes having repaired from when I tore them, my lone purple eye narrowing down at him. "How did you even know how to work the omnitrix?"

"I mess around with it when you take your naps." Ben shamelessly admitted, before running off.

I just sighed and followed after him. "That explains all those times I've woke up as an alien….."

"Oh, this looks like it could be fun to ride in." Ben said once I caught up to him, spotting the golf cart. "Come on, let's make it look like it's driving itself. That'll freak out some old people."

I giggled, the ominous sound coming out like an echo. "Heheh, sounds fun."

The dumbfounded faces of everyone who saw the cart driving a little boy around was absolutely priceless. Pretty soon, Ben and I smelt something pretty delicious, the boy sending me off to nab the thing for the both of us to share. Needless to say, Ghostfreak me apparently holds no qualms to steal for her apparent sweet tooth, happily agreeing to hunt down the food after parking the cart as close as I could to the scent.

"Cool, apple pie…. Huh?" I blinked my single eye at the old woman currently on all fours and munching on flies on the ceiling. "The….fuck?" I blinked again, grabbing the pie off the windowsill and slowly floating away from the odd scene, carefully trying not to gain her attention.

I set the pie down next to Ben, contemplating the implications of the bug muncher as he happily ate his stolen desert. It wasn't long until the creepy neighbor from earlier drove past us with a bulky carpet , fearfully swerving out of range of the sprinkler system that just kicked on.

"Ben, you might want to head back to Vira's." I spoke quietly, looking in the direction the old guy went. "If Max asks, I'm checking out something."

Ben just shrugged and kept eating the pie, barely paying attention to me. With a sigh, floated upwards and in the direction the old man went, eventually finding my way to the gated dumpster area in the middle of town. I watched in awe as the man lifted the large carpet roll in one arm and stretch like elastic to step over the gate.

I floated to the inside of the gate, watching the old man push one dumpster out of the way and reveal a secret passage leading underground. The omnitrix sent out an almost invisible light that scanned the man, going unnoticed by him.

"Species scanned: Limax. Loves to eat the elderly, even though they don't have to." Omni quietly informed. "Situation: dangerous. I recommend that you might want to leave them alone."

"How about no. I can't stand by and let old people be eaten." I growled, the old man's head now swiveling unnaturally on his neck to look for the sound. "Now that's just unsettling…."

Upon not finding the source, the alien spun his head back around and went into the secret passage, me following close behind him. Eventually I followed him into a large cavern, a bunch of green pod things on the ground around a large metallic object that I could only assume that is the ship. I floated and curiously poked my head into one of the green pods, finding an old person inside it, sleeping soundly inside the steamy insides of the odd form of containment.

"They are alive. The Limax like to bring their food home instead of eating it on site." Omni informed quietly, the omnitrix emblem on my chest giving a single quiet click. "These are probably smugglers of their kind, if they are attempting to clear out the entire retirement community. Just three would suffice the whole group for a year."

"Well, all the more reasons to take them out then, right?" I muttered, watching as the alien I followed unroll the carpet and place his twin into one of the pods. "Let's see…. Who's the leader here?"

I floated past the alien man and into the ship, spotting an ugly looking green blob monster, its organs clearly visible from within its gelatinous form. It looked at one of the smaller blobs, the little thing easily carrying one of the pods into the ship, and barked an order.

"Hurry it up! We are on a tight schedule here!" It growled out, waving an appendage.

"I'm trying, sir!" It hurriedly said.

"Ooooohhhh, so you're the thing taking the elderly here….. Naughty, naughty~!" I spoke up, making my voice distort and warp as I floated around the chamber.

"Who's there! Show yourself!" The boss commanded, making me smile under my robe.

"Oh, nobody special. Just an…. Upset party in your operation here." I growled towards the end of my sentence, making the underling shiver from the sound. "How about you just leave this planet and leave everyone you have captured behind? That way things won't be as…. freaky, hehehehehe….."

The boss's eyes roamed about the chamber as I spoke, trying to find where it was coming from, his ugly mouth twisting into a snarl. "How about you show yourself and we'll have a little….chat."

"Nope. I'd much rather stay invisible." I chuckled at the angry slime ball, floating ever so closer to him and giving his shoulder a poke. "Here's the deal….. You have until tomorrow to put everyone back to where they belong, or I'll come and rain hell down upon each and every one of you." I giggled again as the slimeball waved its appendages about in an attempt to find my location, only phasing right through me. "If you try to leave before that….. Well…. Let's just say that it won't be very healthy for any of you."

I didn't even wait for a response, just phasing through the ship's wall and exiting the cavern through its ceiling, my exit taking me around Aunt Vira's street. I floated into a nearby hedge and reverted back into my normal self, the flash mitigated by the thick foliage. Uncomfortably digging myself out of the hedge, brushing the leaves and stuff out of my hair and clothes, I made my way back to Vira's.

The moment I entered, I was greeted with the sight of the Tennyson family sitting down on the couch and watching a Disney movie, Max giving me a smile and a sight wave. The others didn't seem to notice that I entered, happily munching on popcorn as the lion cub sang about impatiently waiting to be king. I gave Max a grimace and motioned for him to come over, the man whispering something to Vira and getting up to meet me in the kitchen.

Max leaned against the fridge and gave me a curious smile. "What is it, Louise? Something happen?"

I scratched the back of my head, wincing as I thought about how to explain the situation. "Well…. You might want to know that there's an…. infestation of sorts in this town."

Max frowned and raised a brow. "I don't see the problem."

I sighed, deciding to rip the bandaid off. "A bunch of shape shifting blobs that eat people. Omni identified them as Limax." I cringed. "I….. might've spooked their leader as Ghostfreak and gave the thing an ultimatum to release all the folks they captured or die." I scratched my arm. "Yeeeaaahhhh…… Ghostfreak is morbid like that."

Max stared at me in stunned silence, then his hand slowly met with his face. He took a deep breath and let it out, shaking his head and placing his hand on my shoulder. "Thanks for telling me."

"So, you're not mad?" I cautiously whispered.

"No, not at all." He sighed and placed his other hand on my shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Okay, uh, good. So, er, uh, I think I got a plan. I think I saw a water main at the top of the cavern they're holed up in. Based on the one I saw, they're afraid of water, so I'll break the pipe and drench the place." I explained. "Using XLR8 during the chaos, I'll just move all the people off the ship and then….. Hope the aliens flee? I don't got an alien unlocked that can use water." I finished with a shrug. "Big Chill might finish the job."

Max blinked at my plan. "That's…. remarkably well thought out."

"Eh, if water works, ice might be super effective. They did come to the desert in the middle of summer. " I murmured, furrowing my brows. "I think I'll do it tonight when everyone's sleeping. You might want to be cautious and keep Gwen's squirt gun handy."

Max nodded and stood back up. "Sounds good." He ruffled my hair, earning a small 'hey!' from me. "Though you should start right now. If you spooked them, they might just leave with what they have."

I frowned a little at him. "Yeah, I probably should….." Thinking for a moment, I smiled widely at him. "Just tell them I'm taking a walk….. a very enthusiastic walk." I giggled a little at my reference and left, leaving Max very confused.

I snuck out of the house easily, snickering under my breath. Fiddling with the dial of the omnitrix briefly, settling on the moth woman and pressing it down. With a flash of green light, I became Big Chill. I turned intangible and flew under the road, stopping when I entered the underground cavern.

Taking a moment to look around, I noticed eight slime balls conversing just outside of the ship. Unfortunately for them, they somehow managed to park their ship just under the pipe running along the roof of the cavern. Smirking, I silently flew to the section of pipe above them and stopped when I got close enough. After a moment of thought, I descended underneath the pipe and took a bite of the rusting metal, starting some chaos below with the ensuing rain of water.

Quickly floating down, I froze one Limax with a breath and flew into the ship, somehow making it into the entrance before the others got there. With a raspy giggle, I froze the group of them as they were in the middle of merging together into one massive slime ball, presumably in a last ditch effort to deal with me. After a brief moment to check if any others are around, I stopped the annoying shower with another ice breath.

After all that, I took a seat on one of the frozen Limax and looked out at all the cocooned people in the cavern and scratched my head, not really believing that my plan went as well as it did. With a flash of green, I turned into Four Arms and started dragging my frozen foes into the ship, careful to not crack the ice. It took a few minutes, but I unloaded all the people off the ship and left the frozen Limax in the cargo hold, using Greymatter to program the autopilot and set the ship to fly towards a random destination.

"Now…." I mumbled as I stared out towards the cavern filled with old people in pods, the spaceship silently flying out of the cavern and into the sky. "Where do I put everyone? How in the hell did they figure that out in the show?"

 **timeskip** …..

In the end, since there were so many pods, I just went XLR8 and went to random locations in the town with most of the pods. After I had all of them placed in front of houses or on benches, I pulled off a feat of speed, that left even my form tired, tearing through each of the pods with my claws with surgical precision and releasing the people within. After that, I quickly went Ghostfreak and observed the confused elderly as they tried to remember how in the hell did they get where they were.

Miraculously, they managed to get home without problem, not even blinking twice at the melting pods they woke up next to. Breathing a sigh of relief, the sound a raspy echo throughout the town, I went back to Vira's, turning tormal in a bush. Entering the home, I yawned as Max and the Vira came up to me, looking a little worried.

"What?" I asked, eyes drooping as I fought off sleep.

Vira frowned. "You were out for quite a while, we were getting worried." She informed, sounding stern. "Young ladies aren't supposed to stay out this late at night. The others are already asleep."

"Late? What time is-?" I spotted the clock on the wall, then stopped. "Man, 11:30? Sorry, had some fun playing chess with Mr. Gerson down the road. The guy can really teach." I bluffed, chuckling nervously.

Vira stared at me, looking a little skeptical. "Really?"

I nodded, yawning again. "Yeah… Just me learning about chess from a german man. He was actually kinda fun to hang around, didn't know it was night until I looked out the window."

"If you say so… Just don't do it again. Many things can happen to a young lady like you, perish the thought." She sighed, giving me a hug. "Time to go to bed, dearie. If I don't see you in bed in the next fifteen minutes, there'll be trouble, young lady." She wagged a finger at me, then walked away, leaving me with Max.

"Long story short, Max?" I gave him a tired look. "It's dealt with, Limax frozen and sent to…. dunno, but it's far from here. Old people released and found their way home. Now, lemme sleep, 'kay?"

He nodded. "A-Alright, just follow me, you'll go in the guest bedroom with Ben and Gwen."

"Kay..." I nodded, blinking drowsily. "Never going that fast as XLR8 again…." I moaned, dragging my legs.

"Bad night?" Max asked, not really knowing what to say.

"Turns out, getting rid of the Limax was the easy part. I had to figure out how to get the elderly back to their homes." I shuddered. "Much harder to do, when you don't have a clue where most of them live."

"Makes sense." Max chuckled, apparently knowing what I went through.

"Yeah, yeah…. Through this door?" I asked pointing to the door he led me to.

At his nod, I entered as quietly as I could, slowly wandering about in the dark room. I found Ben laying on the floor, my foot lightly nudging his blanket wrapped form and almost tripping me. Yawning again, I managed to find the bed, carefully maneuvering around the suspiciously Gwen-shaped bulge under the covers and taking a spot next to it. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow, thankfully not having any nightmares about mutant old people.

 **This is the last timeskip, I promise….**

"Don't be strangers." Vira warmly told us, giving Max a hug.

Max chuckled. "We won't."

Gwen came up to her to get her farewell hug, smiling at the cheerful old woman. "Bye, Aunt Vira."

Vira smiled back. "Bye, dear. Oh, here." She a plastic tin with another jello mold in it, this one green. "Ben told me how you liked my gelatin mold, so I made another with Louise's help." She nodded towards me, not noticing the grimace on my face. "This one's lined with grouper and chickpeas." She informed with a warm look, Gwen cautiously taking it into her arms.

"Eh, thanks…" Gwen thanked, her smile turning a little forced. As she went back to the Rustbucket, she sent Ben a glare, the boy looking away with a smirk.

Vira turned to Ben, looking a little apologetic. "I'm sorry that there wasn't enough excitement around here for you, I hope you weren't bored to tears."

He shrugged. "It turned out better than I thought."

Vira smiled and wrapped him in a hug. "I'm glad. Have fun on the road!" She bade him farewell once they separated, leaving it just me and her left hanging around outside.

"Well, I guess I should join them." I awkwardly started to go to the Rustbucket, only to be hugged by the woman as well.

Vira giggled at my nervous blush. "No need to be embarrassed, dearie." She waved me off, reaching behind her and revealing a small bag of coffee candies. "Here, as thanks for helping me cook."

"O-Oh, thanks. I think these will last me a bit." I thanked her, giving the bag a little shake. "See you later, Vira."

She gave me a conspiratorial wink. "Have fun dealing with those alien lifeforms that Ben told me about, dearie."

Raising a brow at her, not saying anything, I shrugged and entered the Rustbucket. I took my spot at the table, putting my candies up in one of the cabinets, then cracking out one of the books Gwen loaned me. The Rustbucket began its long trek through the desert, a single thing coming to my mind in that instant.

" _The bounty hunters are next, right?"_ I looked up from my book, giving the sky outside a thoughtful glance. " _That friendly Diamond head guy comes with them, too_ …." Racking my mind for details, I did remember something. " _Ben fought them in the middle of nowhere…. We're in the middle of nowhere…. Wonderful_." I looked out at the desert. " _Might be in a day or two that I have to fight Mr. Cyber-Crabs and SixSix._ "

"Louise." Max gained my attention, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. "How do you feel like training out in the middle of the desert? I've got some targets and cardboard stuff for you to practice on."

I paled a little. "Uh, alright, how soon?" I scratched my arm a little. "I'm still tired from the Limax situation yesterday."

That seemed to gain the attention of both Ben and Gwen, the both of their heads snapping in my direction, Ben's in excitement and Gwen's in concern. "Limax?" Both of them asking in unison, then glaring at each other at the odd moment of synchronicity.

"I'll tell you both the story in a moment." I sighed, regretting not telling them until now.

Max laughed at my situation. "How about the day after tomorrow. We'll find a nice, secluded spot to set up the things tomorrow and the next day you can practice with some of your aliens."

"Sounds good." I nodded. "Now…. Time for storytime…." I rolled my eyes as Ben jumped out of his shotgun seat and joined Gwen and I at the table.

A/N: Alright, still not my favorite chapter. I was tempted to just trash this pile of garbage and go on to the next chapter, but I was already halfway through it, so I committed and finished this. I promise, the next one will be much better than this. (Spoiler:A certain bounty hunter's sister joins in on the hunt!)


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